This is Reality
by worddancer
Summary: AU season five. Dawn is not a teen/buffy's sister. The gang must band together in order to protect Dawn... as a baby. better summary inside.  general rating T, Spuffy but not solo gooey gooey has a plot
1. Chapter 1

**a/n This takes place in season five. Dawn however is not a teenager/Buffy's little sister. She is a baby. You'll get the whole story in the story I'm not going to spoil it here. But i will say that at the start of this story Riley has already left and Spike confessed his feelings to Buffy, Joyce is already sick. The story wont be exactly in cannon with the season and things will be different but it will follow the major plot points, i.e. Joyce dying, Tara going crazy ectr. Bellavision gave me this idea so on behalf of both of us please take ten seconds to comment. Do you like the story? why, why not? What would you change? What would you like to see? What are your ideas? How could the charaters be portrayed better? We (being me) want to hear from you. so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Do I look rich? of course I dont own this. duh...**

Chapter One,

Buffy patrolled the graveyard as she did almost every night. Ever sense Riley left, Spike confessed his love for her, her mom got sick and this new big bad Glory came to town patrolling became more than a job. Normal people went to therapy when their lives got hard; the Slayer wandered graveyards and killed bad guys. It's a different mindset.

Buffy looked at the list of paper Giles gave her. Five people had been buried recently, three dying from traumatic neck wounds. She'd told Giles she'd stop by them. Heading to the first grave she saw a fledgling vamp slowly fighting his way out of the grave. Not pausing to give him a thought she quickly dusted him and continued to the second grave. Here she had to wait a few moments before the expected happened. Feeling frustrated Buffy waited for this one to climb all the way out, she even gave him a few moments to orientate himself before speaking up.

"Excuse me, over here!" Buffy called out gaining his attention.

He spun around, "Food, your food." His face immediately shifted to fangs and vampyness.

"Well I'm Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. You are," She paused to quickly glance down at her list, "Gerald… wow you parents really hated you, the vampire."

The vampire named Gerald looked confused for a moment. Buffy staged whispered to him "This is where we fight."

Gerald let out a feral sounding roar and charged Buffy. She easily sidestepped and he swung around to face her again.

"Oh come on, a charge? When has that ever worked in a real fight?" Buffy piped.

With another feral roar Gerald went in for a second charge.

"Ok that didn't work the first time. Do you really think it's gonna work the second? Hmm… thought not." Buffy buried her stake deep in to the vampire heart. As the dust blew away Buffy sighed and resumed her confused train of thoughts.

Riley had left almost a month ago. Two weeks after Spike confessed his supposed love for her. Buffy had professed disgust and started to avoid him. She refused to admit even to herself that she remembered from time to time when Willow's spell had caused them to become engaged. She had told Willow it was awful, that they only fought and still hated each other. She lied.

Yes it was horrible. Yes they did mostly fight but there were other parts to. How he seemed genuinely concerned about Giles. Even the fights were different, less hate, more heat. She would never tell anyone but even after the spell wore off she had to fight to stop herself from comparing Spikes passionate lust filled kisses to Riley's carefully controlled yet hurried kisses. If Buffy felt like being completely honest with herself sometimes Spike seemed to get more about slaying than her friends. Even Giles. He understood what it meant to deal with death every night. To have that power, that responsibility. Spike was a demon, he was able to throw away the responsibility of death and give himself over to the kill. It didn't matter that they killed, hunted even, different creatures. Him humans, her demons and vampires. They both felt the thrill of the hunt. Not that Spike did much of hunting anymore, not with his chip in.

Buffy's train of thought continued down this uncomfortable path. Being even more honest with herself Spike was actually pleasant to be around at times. She enjoyed his sense of humor and it was great to have him at her side during a fight.

For the hundredth time sense his confession Buffy's mind made a mental pro-con list. She remembered when chip less Spike helped her save the world. She also remembered him kidnapping her best friends to force Willow to make a love spell so he could force Drusilla to love him again. Spike had tried to kill her multiple times and she has done the same for him. He also sat on her porch and comforted her when the stress became too much. Patrolled by her side and watched her back.

The biggest thing that weighs on her mind is how can Spike love her without a soul? Angel loved her like she had never been loved. What they felt for each other was the stuff stories were written about, or at least that's what it felt like. Yet the minuet his soul was taken he wanted nothing than to kill her, punish her for making him feel. Spike couldn't love her, he was a demon, a demon without a soul is incapable is love.

Buffy neared the final grave Giles gave her to check. Determined to put every thought of Spike out of her head she looked forward to a second fight for the night. Maybe if she finished early she would do a sweep in the cemetery across town. Unfortunately as if summoned by her conflicting thoughts Spike sat on the tombstone. Twirling a wooden stake in his hand.

"Sorry luv, waited for you to take 'im but you didn't show." Spike flashed her a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy demanded. "Don't you have some blood bank to rob?"

"No actually I wanted to see if you wanted to hit the cemetery on the other side of town, grab a drink after? What do you say pet?"

"Can't Spike. I was gonna get this one and head home. Mom needs help. She's getting ready for her surgery." Buffy sighed, what she said was true, but she had really wanted to do a little extra patrol tonight.

"Need help? I can come by and give a 'and."

"Spike stop, stop right now. You can't keep doing this. Showing up at my house, offering help, following me on patrol. You have to stop. I have no idea why the hell your doing this but it has to stop." Something inside of Buffy snapped. All of her frustrated mixed up thoughts boiled out.

"Pet, you know why I do it. I told you after Capn' Cardboard left. He's a prat, I love you, end of story."

"No you don't Spike. You're a demon! You can't love! Not truly love. You can lust and maybe on some level you can care but you can't love Spike. You don't have a soul, how can you truly love?"

Spike light up a cigarette and hopped off his tombstone perch. He slowly moved toward her, his usual confident swagger emphasizing every step. "I don't know pet, how's bout you and me find out?" His eyes slowly ran across her body.

Desire coursed through Buffy's body as for a moment she almost gave into her hidden fantasies. She started to pull back unsure on whether or not she should just for once let go. Sensing her hesitation Spike stepped closer, closing the small space between them. Just as she was about to give in, let go of her inhibitions and just feel, one of the strangest things on a long list of strange things happened.

Spike disappeared. One moment he was in front of her, leaning down to kiss her again, this time without the influence of a spell, and the second he was gone. Disappeared into thin air. Not he ran away disappeared but gone with no explanation disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I feel like I should do a bit more explaining, I would treat this fan fic as if Joyce getting sick and Riley leaving happened in season four. I mean its already happened here as you saw. But I'm going to be taking episodes like Fools for Love and rewriting them to fit this story even though that happened before Riley left. Does that make sense? Umm... other important things... oh the next couple chapters are going to be switching back and forth between where Spike is and where Buffy is. They'll also be a bit shorter. It should be pretty obvious which chapter is where (Spike or Buffy) but if it isnt tell me and I'll fix it. I might even throw in some episode ideas from season six. I'd love to do once more with feeling but unless you've seen it its hard to "picture and listen" to the written lyrics. Drop me ideas on what episodes you think would be important to include or would just like to see. Again begging for reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I am not a man, my name is not Joss, there fore I don't own this.**

Chapter two

Spike fell through the air and landed with a resounding thud on a cold rock floor. Centuries of dust billowed around him as he struggled to his feet confused. Looking around he saw what appeared to be an old room, the stone and dirt packed floor was cold beneath his feet, the brick walls plain and unadorned.

"Where the bloody hell is this." Spike muttered to himself.

He seemed to be alone in the room. After dusting himself off Spike tried to leave the room. He took two steps only to find himself unable to do more. Turning around he tried to go the other way with the same results. He tries several more times, each meeting an invisible barrier.

"What the bloody hell is going on here, who's keepin me here?" He calls out into the silent room.

As if summoned by his angry shout a man dressed in the brown habit of a Franciscan monk runs into the room. A long bloody gash slashes across his stomach.

"No more time… must hurry… blood of the undead to create the living… must understand… must give and take willingly… must hurry or all will be lost…" The monk babbles while hurrying to Spike.

"You must be willing, take the responsibility, give a drop of blood," He continues, speaking directly to Spike now, "You must understand, only way to get the key to the slayer, save this world."

"Wait, Buffy? What about the Slayer?" Spike cuts in demanding.

"Only you can save her, give your blood, receive a soul. You must understand! There's no time left!" The monk draws a knife and a glowing ball from his robes.

"What are you bloody talking about? What will happen!" Spike yelled.

"Can't say, must show." The monk continued to babble.

All of a sudden Spike was no longer in the monastery. Or to be more accurate his body was but his mind was somewhere else. He watched a scene play out below him as if he was in an old silent movie, taking in everything without hearing a thing. A large rickety tower pierced the night sky; a brunette teenager was chained to the top. Buffy and another woman fought off to the side. Spike, Anya, Xander, Giles, Tara and Willow all locked in their own battles. Suddenly Spike watched himself break away from the crowd and race up the tower. Someone else was up there, a man holding a long knife. Spike rushed to him, trying to save that strange girl. He pushed the man away or tried but was pushed off the tower himself. Even though he couldn't feel a thing Spike cringed and winced as he saw himself drop.

The scene seemed to fast forward itself. Again Spike zoomed in on to the tower. He saw Buffy standing at the top talking to the girl. All of a sudden she turned and began to run toward the edge. As she reached the edge she leaped into a graceful swan dive, crashing into the ruble below. Unmoving, still forever.

"NO!" Spike screamed as he returned to his body in the monastery. He grabbed the monk, yanking him closer until the monk was an inch from his face, "What was that!"

"The future, only you can change it. Only you can save the slayer. Give the blood, accept the soul! Change the rip in time! Accept!"

Spikes mind flashed back to the graveyard. He wasn't sure if it was hours, minutes or days ago but in his mind he heard Buffy's voice.

"How can you love me when you don't have a soul?"

He could love her. It may be a distorted twisted love but he loved her. He didn't give a damn about the rest of the world. Yeah he liked it, happy meals on wheels and all but it was really Buffy that mattered, if he had the power to save her… even if it meant a soul… he would do it and damn the consequences.

"This will save her?" he asked the monk.

"Yes, blood of the undead, from one to another, born new, souled, the mother and child, whole and incomplete bound together, take from the one give to the other. Remove the chip. Take the impure to create the pure, born from the ashes, the key. Stop Glory, repair the rip in time. From the blood and back to the blood. It's always the blood!"

Spike didn't know what the monk was talking about all he knew was that this was the only way to save Buffy from some unknown future death.

"I'll do it. I accept."

With those words the monk drew the knife in his hand. Grasping Spikes wrist with the strength of a dying man he slashed open Spikes palm. As his blood dripped down his arm the monk grabbed the glowing ball. As a thin river of Spikes blood flowed in to the sphere it seemed to glow brighter, hungrily drinking in the blood.

"Unclean made pure, sent to impregnate the unclean, making it pure. Now the soul, complete the incomplete, start the internal war, unremovable and untaintable. Now before it's too late!" The glowing sphere disappeared the same way Spike had. He paid it no mind waiting to see what the monk did next.

The monk pressed his hand to his gaping wound. Pulling his hand away covered in blood he began to chant in Latin. He thrust his bloodied hand into Spikes mixing the blood of the undead with the blood of the dying. With the combined bloods dripping down his arm the monk slammed his hand to Spike's chest. Just above where his heart used to be.

Spike screamed as pain unlike he had ever felt lit his body on fire. In his mind he heard every scream of every victim, every drop of fear, every plea for mercy. His body writhed with pain as he felt each and every blow he ever laid on a victim. He thought he would go insane from it. As his body, mind and now soul screamed he thought he heard the monk say one final thing.

"Remember, it's always the blood."


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n so i'm new to this site and i just found this funky story tracker thingy... and guess what! people are reading this! (happy dance happy dance happy dance) awesome thanks to everyone who reviewed. i love all of you and you are my new best friends. major awesome thanks to Lady Anne Boylen :) she gave constructive critisism... lets all learn from her example... wait your telling me begging for reviews is pathetic and unseemly... oops... who cares i'm begging... but on to other things dont worry the monk is supposed to confuse you right now. all things will make sense in time. the large part of this chapter is a flash back and i think its fairly obvious when it is and when it isn't... again comments suggestions and all that, theres this really cool little button on the bottom of the page click it. i wrote this chapter during my college psyc class and its a little rough, not my fav chapter but it had to be written and this is how it had to be written. read enjoy comment!**

Chapter Three

"Giles, I'm telling you it gave me the wiggins. And not the yippie Spike's gone wiggins. More like the what just happened and what's going to happen because of it wiggins." Buffy sat in the Magic Box surrounded by research books. Spike had disappeared two nights ago and still hadn't returned.

"I'm sure it did Buffy, but we have to look at the bigger picture. Glory is our problem right now. That monk said she was looking for a key. What key? What for? For that matter what is she? Neither I nor Willow can find any sort of reference to her anywhere." Giles looked up from his books.

Buffy thought back to the night a few weeks ago when she had first met Glory. She had been investigating an old abandoned warehouse, Giles had told her about several complaints of strange noise and other weird things. In Buffy's experience funky noises and weird things in general didn't lead to hugs and puppies. Usually they led to things like vampires or demons and dead people.

She had passed by the warehouse on her final sweep of the town. Seeing it empty and quiet she had decided to do a quick recon of the building. Entering the creaking doorway she'd seen the old staircase leading upstairs. She thought she heard something and hurried up them. Entering a small back store room she'd seen a monk sitting cross legged on the floor. A glowing ball hovered between his hands as he sat chanting. Pulling a long knife out of his robe he slit a long gash down his arm, letting the sphere drink in his blood. Buffy ran toward him to stop him. She thought he was doing a demonic ritual.

The monk hadn't paused his chanting to look at her. Buffy discovered why when she ran into some kind of invisible barrier about three feet in front of the monk. She tried to fight the barrier fruitlessly. After five minutes the glowing ball flared up and disappeared. Instantly the barrier fell down and Buffy passed though effortlessly.

"What did you do?" Buffy demanded the monk, "What the hell was that?"

"Slayer," the monk said, "She is coming, Glory, she is coming. You must prepare. You're the only hope! This is the only way. Trust him."

"Trust who?" Buffy asked. She didn't have a clue to what was going on but she hoped the monk would be able to give her a straight answer.

"You'll see. I'm not allowed to explain. I have been sent to change the rip in time. Mend the break. I can only show certain events. Not many of these will help you now. I'm not allowed much time here. A few weeks are not enough to mend the mistakes of a life time. I can only hope that this second chance will not be in vain. Slayer! You must trust him! He is the only thing that can save you. He will sacrifice all to save the rip in time. This is the only thing I may show you that will help you."

The monk grabbed her hand. All of a sudden her mind was transported to a scene, her friends, Giles, Anya, Xander, Willow and Tara, even Spike gathered around something. A strange brunette teenager stood by Giles, leaning into him. Spike was collapsed on the ground, leg bent on a strange angle crying. She looked closer at her friends faces, all five faces six including the strange brunettes, were tear streaked and dirty with soot and blood. She somehow knew that they gathered around her corpse.

The scene than changed. Buffy now stood in some kind of cave holding a weapon unlike any she had ever seen. She was surrounded by other girls, again without knowing how she knew, she knew the girls were other slayers. But that didn't make sense, there was only one, two with Faith but that was only because Buffy had died for a moment, no more. She watched as one by one the girls fell, cut down.

Buffy was jerked back into her own mind again. For a moment she blinked at the old ware house wondering where she was.

"What was that?" Buffy yelled after getting her bearings.

"A possibility, a mistake, one that must be corrected. I was sent to correct. You can change the outcome. The undead and the slayer working together can change it." A sound crashed below.

"Hide now!" The monk demanded. "She is coming! She must be stopped and you are the only one who can."

The monk pushed her into a corner behind some old collapsed filing cabinets, he was surprisingly strong for a frail looking man. She hid but was determined to fight if she was needed.

The monk returned to the middle of the room as a gorgeous blonde woman stormed in.

"Where is it? Where's my key?" She demanded.

The monk resumed chanting as the woman stormed up to him and knocked him across the room.

"Give me my key!" She shouted.

The monk still didn't say anything. With a cry of frustration and anger the woman sank her hands into the monks head. A white light appeared around her fingers as something streamed into her body.

At this Buffy leaped out from behind the cabinet and dived at the woman. Knocking her away from the monk she asked, "who the hell are you?"

The woman laughed and said "My names Glory bitch." The woman, Glory, knocked Buffy aside like a gnat.

Buffy flew across the room colliding with opposite wall. She saw the monk on the ground and the strange woman standing over them before she slowly slid into unconsciousness.

When Buffy woke the monk was still in the room but Glory had left. The monk was sitting on the floor staring off into space. Every part of Buffy's body screamed as she crawled over to the monk.

"Are you ok? Who was that? What was she?" Buffy asked. That Glory couldn't be human, no vampire or even demon had ever over taken her so easily.

"That was Glory. Bad bad bad bad… Must go, no time left. No no no no time. You go back to sleep. Trust him. He'll save everything, rip in time. Slayer remember it's always the blood. Always the blood. Now back to sleep."

The monk continued to babble as Buffy slowly gave in to the blackness pressing against her eyes.

"Buffy, you know we have to concentrate on Glory right now. We should take Spikes disappearance as a blessing. We can't do anything about it anyway, nor do we bloody want to- if you'll excuse my language. Now did you check the Myricfic Volumes?

Giles voice brought Buffy out of memory lane. As she pulled the book closer to her, her mind quickly returned once more to the monks face, both before and after the fight with Glory.

"I don't know Giles, I cant explain it but I think their connected. Spike and the monk and Glory. Its giving me the wiggens whatever it is."

She began to read the book in front of her. As she tried to concentrate the monks voice kept drifting back to her.

"Trust him… He'll save everything…. Remember it's always the blood… It's always the blood…."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N so one of my amazing reviewers had an amazing idea for flash backs. make the font slanted. so thats what i did. dreams and flashbacks are going to be kinda sorta a big deal inthis story. so flashbacks will be like this**_ lasdkjf_ ** and dreams will be like this _lakdsjflaskj_ just to make sure there is no confusion. You should all be very proud of me. I just moved back to the states. (i was living in south america for 6 months) just started university, am working, helping take care of my little sister and working at a nursing home. (one of my residents decided to spit on me... several times last night) and i have been updating regularly. so read enjoy and review.**

**DISCLAIMER: I am Joss in disguise, i do own buffy and make lots of money... oh wait that was a dream**

Chapter Four

Spike slowly came to- finding himself collapsed on the cold monastery floor. He slowly pulled himself to his hands and knees looking around the room. He saw the monk collapsed a few feet away. He painfully dragged himself over to him. He flipped the monks body over and expertly searched the neck for a pulse. He felt none. Spike carefully looked the body over, searching for a sign of what killed him.

As he looked the body over he found a long scar, almost brand new, extending from his wrist to almost his elbow. Spike couldn't find any other wounds aside from the stomach gash. Judging from the pool of blood that's what killed him. Spike was about to lower his head, game face ready to go. He was famished hadn't eaten in he didn't know how long.

As he lowered his head to drink from the already dead monk his memories came rushing back, screeching to a halt at the face of a pretty young girl.

_England 1940 during the Second World War_

_The jazz joint was smoky and crowded. Spike didn't know where Drusilla was. They were both on the hunt tonight. They'd meet up later at the place they were staying. Spike ordered a brandy from the bar man. He loved these old jazz places. A fellow could order a drink and almost always find some young broad who was trying to prove her independence and ignore the realities of the war. He leaned against the bar and looked around. He spotted a young girl sitting at a table by herself- nursing a drink much like he was. His improved night vision helped him see that her nylons merely a line painted down the back of her calf. No one else would notice it. Pretty, she curled her blonde hair just so and pinned it up carefully. Her dress was cut just to the edge of decency. She was just his type._

_Setting his half finished drink back on the bar and strode over to her. He was wearing the military outfit of some young chap that Dru had killed earlier. To the poor unsuspecting girl he looked like a handsome young officer home on leave from duty. She couldn't help herself when he asked her to dance. Introducing himself as William he twirled her around the dance floor with a practiced ease. The young girl introduced herself as Amelia and made it more than clear she would be happy to spend the evening in this young man's arms._

_Several dances and even more drinks later Amelia let Spike lead her out of the smoky din and into an ally. He started to kiss her face, her lips slowly working his way down to her neck, shifting into game face. For a moment he hesitated, the vampire often called William the Bloody for his viciousness, remembering the time when he was a man. Where once at a party he first was called William the Bloody, but not for violence, but for his "bloody" awful poetry. Shaking aside the moment he plunged his teeth into her neck, covering her mouth to stifle the scream. _

_He drank deeply for several moments before releasing her. Amelia looked up at him, meeting his gaze with tiered eyes. Slowly she smiled at him. _

"_The Lords coming for me. I can see him." She said as a small look of peace fell over her face. She slowly slipped to the ground, her body crumpling delicately on the cold cobble stone of England's streets._

"_Sorry luv," Spike said looking down at her "I don't reckon he gives a damn."_

_Out of the shadows he heard a high pitched giggle. "Spike shouldn't speak like that. The King of Hearts doesn't like that." _

_Spike turned and out from the depths of the alley appeared Drusilla. A delicate trail of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Laughing Spike picked her up and twirled her around in the air._

"_Luv, lets paint this town red." He said to her. With that the two vampire went off, on for the nights next thrill._

Memory after memory hit Spike in a never ending assault. He saw the faces who begged for mercy, the faces who pleaded and tried to bargain with the demon inside of him. He saw the faces that not only accepted death but rushed into its embrace. The weight of his newly restored soul making him relive every moment, every death, every plea. The torment made him cry out in pain and curl into himself.

He didn't know how much longer he laid on that cold stone floor that so resembled the alley in England, one of many dead girls in one of many dark alley's. The sun sank lower and lower in the high window carved into the stone. Spike knew he needed to drink soon, but he couldn't bear to even lap up the blood spilled on the floor. To ease his pain he fixed one face into his head. Another pretty blonde girl, this girls eyes were green to Amelia's blue. Spike saw her face, her blonde hair tumbling just past her shoulders. He can see the natural sun tinted highlights that streak though the light tresses. He see's the slight disapproving frown curved on her full lips, long eye lashes frame her green eyes as they pierce him- daring him to become a better person, be a man not a monster. Someone who knew what he was but still treated him like a man. Spike holds the image of the woman he received a soul for in his mind. Slowly allowing her face to draw him back to sanity.

Only after the sun had completely set was he able to pick himself up. He pulled himself to the monk's body one more time. He reached his hands to close the eyes when he heard a voice.

"Spike, drink." It was the monk's voice. Something in Spike whispered that this was impossible while another part accepted it as easily as it did the sun rising in the east.

"Drink it, you need strength. The road ahead will test you. Do not make it harder." The voice continued.

"So many bodies, so much blood on my hands." Spike said to the air in general knowing somehow the voice could not only understand him but was benevolent as well.

"You were a demon than, unholy and unsouled. You can change that. Make up for past wrongs but you need strength. These next month's will test you more than any you've ever know."

Spike now remembered in perfect clarity the insane ramblings of the monk. "The slayer," he said this time more to himself than to whatever spirit he was talking to.

So with the monk's spirit encouraging him; he bent his head and slowly drank from the monk. He tried to be as respectful as possible. Only when he was done did he notice a small scar running down his right palm, where the monk had cut him. The scar shouldn't have existed in the first place with vampire healing and all. Not only did it exist it appeared to be years old. He pushed the mystery from his mind for now determined to figure out where he was for it seemed as if the monk had left for good now.

He slowly stood up, his body still screaming in protest. Staying close to the wall for balance he slowly started to explore the monastery. Two hours later he had been in the entire building aside from a few back rooms. He decided to explore there in hopes of a bed he could rest on for a bit.

Nearing the last room he heard a soft noise coming from it, as he neared closer he could make out words someone was singing to herself or himself.

"Run and catch,

Run and catch,

The lamb is caught in the blackberry patch."

Spike opened the door to a pale brunette woman clad in a white nightgown staring out the window.

"Dru" Spike whispered.

The woman turned to him, "Spike! I knew you'd come. The stars told me you would."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I have amazing reviers. they are amazing and i adore them. that being said one person (he knows who he is) read the story and commented on every chapter. another reader (she also know's who she is) did the same. lets follow their example and push the little button on the bottom. any advise for writing glory or dru is asked for. its hard to write crazy pple in charcater... just sayin. another side not i know i mentioned this earlier but throwing it in again, this written season is not exactly in cannon with the tv season. if it gets confusing tell me. otherwise thats it. read review enjoy**

**disclaimer: i own buffy and am married to spike... that or i'm a pathtically single college student... either or. take a guess at which.**

Chapter Five

"_**I told you trust him."**_

"_**What do you mean trust him, who is him? Why can't you tell me more? If this is something I'm supposed to do why can't you tell me so I can do it?" Buffy stomped her foot impatiently. She was standing in the cemetery seemingly talking to the air. She knew the voice but couldn't identify it. Somehow that seemed perfectly normal.**_

"_**Free will. The Powers that Be are big on free will. I was given the chance to come back, change the rip in time, but your free will is what will decide this. Yours and his."**_

_**Buffy looked around herself again. Now she was on a beach, much like the one in her dreams about Angel. The monk from the warehouse stood in front of her, smilingly contently.**_

"_**Why are you here? And why aren't you all rushy rushy?" she asked.**_

"_**Because before I was alive, things had to be done and done quickly and only I could do them. Now I'm dead. I have done my duty and my soul is at peace. I was given the power to come to you in dreams, advise you, guide you, if you may. Now rest, he's coming. I'll come to you again when it is time." The monk walked up to Buffy and gently placed his hands over her eyes.**_

As Buffy woke in her bed she could still hear the voice of her dream. "Trust him." She remembered her dream in perfect clarity. She sighed with frustration and rolled out of bed. Climbing in to the shower she mulled over the dream some more. As she thought a long scar on her left hand begain to itch. Idley she scratched it, she recieved it from the night in the warehouse. She still wasn't sure when or how. She shouldn't even have a tiny scar with slayer healing much less one that looks several years old.

After showering she ran down stairs to check on her mother. She moved back home after her mother's tumor was discovered. The doctors said the upcoming surgery would work and everything would be ok, yet Buffy couldn't shake the bad feeling she kept receiving.

"Hey mom, what's up?" Buffy asked as she entered the kitchen.

"Oh nothing, just making pancakes. I couldn't sleep last night so I got up early." Joyce Summers replied.

"You ok Mom?"

"Of course I am Buffy, the surgery is scheduled in a month, I have a check up next weekend. I'm fine Buffy. They caught it early enough that they can fix it. Don't worry honey."

Buffy didn't say anything else as she carefully watched her mom. She putzed around the house until she absolutely had to go to class. After class she planned to head over to the magic shop for some more research. Glory and her minions had made another appearance in the two weeks sense Spike disappeared. The whole group was worried about the complete lack of information on her.

Add to the fact three bodies had been found in the woods, one missing an eye the other the heart and the third being drained of blood in a non vampire way, the group was feeling pretty stressed. Buffy most of all, she had taken to patrolling every night. Some nights she went out twice to shake the gut feeling she had. She knew that Spike disappearing wasn't just a weird thing she could ignore. Some way somehow it had something to do with Glory and herself. Giles wasn't taking her seriously and she didn't mention it anymore.

Buffy continued thinking as she drove to the campus. Her bad feeling wasn't centered on Spike. Something else felt off to. She couldn't put her finger on it but she knew it was there.

Buffy passed through her classes in a monotonous haze. The sense of something big coming kept itching at the edge of her consciousness. She auto-piloted, taking notes, answering quickly and efficiently if a teacher called on her, yet she wasn't there. Years of being the slayer had taught her one thing. Listen to her instincts. Her instincts and her friends kept her alive though the years and she never doubted them.

After class she headed to the magic shop for the Scooby meeting. She went early for some training time with Giles. Ever sense Dracula come she dedicated almost every spare moment to training. She wanted to learn about her power. How to harness it so she wouldn't die as young as the others.

"Giles, I had the dream again." She vaulted over the horse twisting her body in the air so she landed facing Giles once again. "It's the same every time."

"The dream with the monk?" Giles looks up from where he stands by the weapons rack.

"Yeah," Said Buffy as she walked over to meet him at the punching bag. "It's so frustrating. We're in the cemetery than we go to a beach and the whole time he's telling me about some rip in time, or some destiny or how I have to trust some guy." She drove home each point with a strong punch. Spinning to hit the bag with a high kick she fell in to the routine of the exercise. Punch, punch, high kick repeat. Not meeting Giles' eyes she continued with her train of thought. "He said he could come into my dreams because he was dead. The dreams didn't start till a day or so after Spike went AWOL. Giles I know you don't want to hear it but they're related. I wish I could be all yay Spikes gone, and I would be, but I get the feeling it's important to something. Another thing, its related to Glory. Somehow it is. Before I blacked out she was screaming about some Key. What the hell is this key, why does she want it, what does the monk have to do with all of it." She stopped her work out and finally looked Giles in the eye. He was watching her closely. "Something's up Giles, the dreams, Glory, the gut feeling I have. It's all pointing to one thing. Something coming, something big."

Giles steadied the punching bag, "Your right Buffy. Something is coming. And you have to be ready."

"I will be." Buffy stated with absolute conviction.

An hour later the whole gang was gathered. Willow and Tara on one side of the table, holding hands, Xander sat on the other side with Anya perched on his lap. Giles was busy cleaning his glasses and Buffy was a ball of nervous energy. After talking to Giles her bad feeling itch kept getting worse and worse. Before she could open her mouth to tell them what she told Giles the door burst open and Glory with a minion flanking both sides barged in.

"Where the hell is my damn key!" She yelled.

Buffy almost sighed with relief. She hated sitting and waiting. She couldn't beat Glory yet but she might be able to get some answers.

"What key," She asked the blonde woman.

Glory laughed a musical, crazy sounding laugh, "What key? I know you have my key. And I want it back slayer." Than like a spoiled child she stamped a red heeled shoe. "It's not nice to take my key. Not everything is about you slayer! I'm the victim and I just want my Key."

As Glory kept talking she started sounding crazier and crazier, coming close to tears at some points.

"I just want my key. Do you know how it feels to be me? You couldn't even use it so why not just give it here? I just want my key back. There's nasty humans wiggling and squiggling, cavorting and I just want it to stop." With that she charged at the Scooby gang.

"_Desino, Subsisto, Confuto!_" Willow yelled holding up her hand. Glory hit the invisible wall she conjured in mid-charge. The force of the spell caused her to fly back and hit the wall. Seeing their icon down the two minions ran at the group. Not learning from their mistresses mistake they also flew back to join Glory.

"Brain, I need a brain. Must find a brain." She babbled and without another word her and her minions turned and left the shop.

The group stood and stared at where she had been. After a moment Buffy turned to the rest of the gang.

"So guys… about what I was saying…."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/n so i am a minnesotan girl. i hate minnesota right now. i got home from a friends at about ten... wanna guess what happened. the stupid prarie wind had decided to blow snow all over my long driveway getting me stuck. my dad and i had to spend forty mins digging the damn thing out. now its cold in MN. right now its about -10F (-24C... more or less) or maybe colder out there with out the wind... with the wind its about 15-20 degrees colder. i looked like a albino snowman in a black parka out there. than some how my dad manages to lock the keys in the van so we had to spend another half hour getting the van open... i still had homework for my university tomorrow... i should say have homework as i decided to quick do this upload and an up load on my story One Last Chance first. so you should all review to make me feel better. and i try to respond to all reviews but for the people who reviewed anonymously and i couldnt a big thanks to you! and if you have any funny winter stories please feel free to share :)**

Chapter Six

"_Spike! I knew you'd come. The stars told me."_

Spike stared at his sire, the woman he had loved for the better half of the past two centuries. She sat curled in a flowing white gown, her brown hair falling in loose curls around her shoulders. She beautiful, if you didn't know her you would see the picture of innocent wonder on her face. But Spike did know her. What he wanted to know now was why the hell she was here?

A breezed passed though the un-paned window causing Drusilla to shiver delicately. "Spike, come sit with me. I'm cold" she said.

He didn't love her anymore. He hadn't loved her for almost two years now. Ever sense she left him for a chaos demon and he had fallen in love with the slayer of all people. The habits of 150 plus years are hard to break however. They drove him to sit next to her and wrap her in his arms. The flaps of his duster fell around her, shrouding them both into a black cocoon.

"Dru, what are you doing here?" he asked. In his mind he added where the hell is here.

"I don't know. I was having a picnic with the King of Hearts- even though it wasn't his birthday- when a man came. He brought me here. I don't know how he did, but it was such fun. Everything got dark and it was all black." She giggled as she finished.

"What did the man look like pet?" Spike wanted to know if the man who brought Dru was monk.

"He was tall like Daddy," Dru's name for Angel, "with brown hair. He was a monk Spike. But I couldn't bite him. I wanted to bite him." For a moment she looked upset at this.

"What happened when he brought you here?" Spike asked, slowly digging for answers. Prying the truth apart from Drusilla's insane rants.

"I went to sleep. When I woke up the stars were dancing in the skies. So I started to name them." For a moment Dru stared off into space a vacant smile playing across her lips. "Than a star came into the room," she continued, "it glowed so pretty. A pretty round, glowing ball. I wanted to play with it Spike."

For a moment Spike ignored Drusilla and her babbles. Her star sounded like the glowing sphere the monk had. But why bring Dru here, why send it to her?

"Dru, pet, what did the star do. Tell me Dru. What did the star do?" Spike asked her, cutting the insane vampire off in mid sentence.

Dru pouted at being interrupted, Spike merely looked at her and waited. They sat in silence for ten minutes before Dru stopped pouting and answered.

"It shined ever so brightly and then it split into two starts. The bright one came to me and entered right here." She laid her hands over her lower stomach. The picture of her sitting there, hands folded protectively over her abdomen reminded him of something. He couldn't place what or where he had seen it before. "It made me feel all glowly inside."

_Glow._ That word and the image of Dru played in his mind. His thoughts once again drowned out Dru's nonsensical babble. He stared off into space when from the recesses of his mind the monk's voice rose in the faded tones of memory. "… blood of the undead to create the living… give a drop of blood… blood of the undead, from one to another, born new, souled, the mother and child, whole and yet incomplete… Take the impure to create the pure, born from the ashes, the key… Unclean made pure, sent to impregnate the unclean…"

Spike stared at Dru. Her hands still folded over her stomach, lost in a day dream- humming quietly to herself. The words in his head repeated themselves again. "Blood from the undead to create the living… born new… mother and child… take from the impure… create the pure… impregnate the unclean…" He saw the images in his mind. The monk slashing his palm, how the sphere glowed when it drank his blood. "Blood from the undead…" The monk had taken his blood. Spike than saw in his mind how he imagined what happened to Dru. The ball would have appeared before her much as it had disappeared before him. The energy- the "key" as the monk had said- separated itself from the sphere, entering Dru in a blaze of light.

_Glow._ Now he knew where he had heard that word. Women for years had been said to glow when pregnant. "Take from the impure…" Spike himself, "Unclean…" his blood, "… to impregnate the unclean…" Dru. Another image flashed in his mind. Of a young girl, no more than eighteen, how she had folded her hand protectively over her stomach to protect her unborn child, even as Spike had attacked her. "… Create the pure…" a child. A baby, the very symbol of purity. He stared at Dru, seeing the impossible.

He than remembered Buffy mentioning a monk herself. Weeks ago, in a warehouse with some extra strong blonde woman ranting about a key. She had come to Spike herself to see if he knew anything about it. All the pieces fell together as he stared at his former lover.

"Ah bloody hell Dru… we have to go to Sunnydale. We have to get you to the slayer now."

"I don't want to go." Dru pouted again.

"We have to luv. Its for your own good. Now Dru, what happened to the second star. Did it go anywhere?"

"Its right here Spike." Drusilla reached into her lap and pulled out the sphere. Spike took it from her and held it in his hands. He could feel the energy pulsating against his skin as he cradled the sphere. From the back of his mind a voice rose.

"Hurry Spike. She needs you. The slayer needs you."

With that he picked Dru up and led her to the door. He wasn't sure where the hell they were but he knew they had to get back to Sunnydale, back to the slayer and to the Scoobies.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N so this chapter is a bit longer than the others. i dont know if this trend will continue but this is chptr 7. turns out shoveling out a long drive way at ten pm in freezing cold weather can make your immune system a little weaker. add working in a nursing home during the middle of flu season you get waking up and puking as a resault. no university for me today. so instead i wrote this. you lucky guys get two chapter in practically the same day. one thing i should explain, the pervious buffy chapters and spike chapters weren't exactly in sync. if i wrote them so the time like was perfect it would have gone all the spike chapters than the buffy chapters. but now spike is back and the whole gang is co-interacting. hope that wasnt confusing but like i said i'm sick to day. so read comment and enjoy**

**ps. thanks to everyone who reviewed yesterday. when i felt up to checking my email it made my day so much better to see those reviews. **

**DISCLAIMER- nope still dont own it.**

It was past midnight when Buffy let herself in the front door. The light was still on in the kitchen. She found her mom sitting at the counter sipping a cup of tea. Buffy silently got down her own cup and sat down next to her mother. Buffy had told Joyce more than once she didn't need to wait up for her when she patrolled but Joyce insisted. She said she didn't have to love her daughters extracurricular activities but she would support them. Having a cup of tea together when Buffy got home had become a bonding moment for the mother and daughter.

"How'd it go tonight?" Joyce asked. When she first found out about her daughters calling she would ask but Buffy only gave her the glossed over version. Now they would often talk in depth about the different demons Buffy faced.

"Good, I got two fledglings before Giles called. We found out what was killing the people." Buffy perked up at remembering one of the latest issues had been solved.

"Oh? What is it this time?" After almost three years Joyce Summers was fairly knowledgeable in what went on in Sunnydale. At times it seemed so obvious to her she wondered how people stayed in the town. She had to remind herself of all the times she turned a blind eye in the past.

"A demon named Gorenan. He tries to bring destruction by performing a ritual. He needs the heart of a pure, eye of the blind and the blood of the corrupt to do it. And he has to perform the ritual every week for four weeks." Buffy examiened her shirt and found a few blue stains where the demons blood had hit her.

"Which explains the bodies from last week." Comprehension dawned on Joyce's face.

"Yeah, But it's ok. I got him before he could do anymore damage." Buffy shrugged.

"Good job, sweetie." Joyce smiled proudly at her daughter.

"Thanks mom." Buffy smiled at her mother. For a moment she could pretend that her mom wasn't sick. That she wasn't the slayer, that they were having tea, talking about her latest paper for SCU Sunnydale, or some other trivial thing not Buffy's life or death calling. Buffy had long ago stopped resenting her destiny but at times she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if another girl had been chosen. Now even if by some miracle she was told she could be done, she didn't have to be the Slayer anymore she couldn't stop. She had seen too much, done too much. She now knew what went bump in the night. She turned twenty soon, making her one of the oldest slayers. It didn't mean she fought better. It meant she got lucky. If Xander hadn't been there to give her CPR her sophomore year she would have died at sixteen. She had expected to die that night. Buffy stared into her tea wondering if it ever ended.

A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts.

"Now who could be knocking on the door at this time of night?" Joyce wondered out loud. Joyce got up to go open the door.

"Mom, wait. Let me get it." Buffy reached for her weapons bag and grabbed a battle ax, she tested the edge quickly before going to the door. This was Sunnydale. You didn't just open doors at one o'clock in the morning here. Holding the ax out of sight she opened the door. On her porch stood Spike holding a sick looking Drusilla in his arms.

"'Ello pet." He said.

"Spike." Buffy said stunned. She stared at him and at Drusilla. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'll explain pet. Just invite Dru inside. Trust me its important." Spike spoke in a hurried voice keeping one hand encircled around Drusilla's waist.

"Spike," Dru said swaying a bit. " Spike, the stars are laughing at me. I don't want to be here Spike. Take me back now."

Spike looked at her helplessly, "Dru, we have to stay here. You need help." Turning to Buffy he finished softly "Slayer, this is important. Trust me."

Before Buffy could respond Joyce walked into the foyer. "Buffy, what's going on? Who's there." Upon seeing Spike she said, "Oh hello Spike. Would you like a cup of tea? I just put a pot on."

"That would be lovely Joyce." Spike said, cutting across Buffy's protests. "Do you happen to have a second cup for my friend here?"

"Of course, why don't you both come in?" Joyce smiled.

"Mom! What have we talked about! About letting strange people in the house at night! Not to mention letting people we _know _are vampires in!" Buffy yelled exasperated at her mother's easy invitation to Spike.

"Buffy, its Spike, one he has a chip and two we both know you'll have a stake in your hand the whole time. Now come to the kitchen and let the poor boy explain what happened." Spike decided no w was not the time to inform Joyce he may or may not have said chip anymore.

Buffy threw her hands up in the air in a gesture of defeat as the small group made their way to the kitchen and abandoned tea cups. Joyce went to the cupboard and got down two more cups for the visitors. Buffy reached into her weapons bag again and pulled out a cross bow. She trained it lazily at Drusilla who hissed at the slayer when she noticed.

"Spike, I can feel it inside me Spike. The glowing star. Its hungry." Dru pouted at Spike.

Joyce turned to Spike, "Is your friend like you Spike? The same diet that is I mean."

Spike smiled at how Joyce delicately frased the question.

"Yeah, she's like me. Don't worry about her though. I'll go buy her some pigs blood tomorrow." For a moment Buffy was puzzled. Drusilla could hunt on her own. Why would Spike be buying her blood.

"Oh don't worry about it," Joyce said going to the fridge, "Between Angel a few years ago and you all last year I've gotten into the habit of keeping some on hand." She reached into the fridge and pulled out a white Styrofoam container. Pouting the red liquid into a mug she put it in the microwave to warm it up.

"Thanks Joyce. This is Drusilla by the way." Finally introducing Dru to Joyce.

"Ah your girlfriend right?" Joyce asked.

"No, we haven't been together for awhile. We kinda got thrown into the same situation."

Buffy spoke up from her perch on the counter. "Would this situation have anything to do with why you vanished?"

Spike looked Buffy into the eye, "Yeah pet, it has a lot to do with me disappearing."

Buffy sighed. She wasn't about to admit she was glad Spike was back but this was something that had to be delt with now. if her gut was right, this might give them new information about Glory. "Than wait. Let me call the gang here. We all need to hear this."

Within the half hour Giles, Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara joined the others gathered at the kitchen counter.

"Spike your on. What happened?" Buffy asked. Drusilla was sitting off to the side humming to herself and playing with her doll. "Why is she here? What's so important?"

"It's a long story luv," Spike said lazily allowing his eyes to run up and down Buffy's body. Somethings didn't change no matter the situation.

"Hey, watch it Spike." Xander said from across the table noticing what Spike did.

"Oh shut it you wanker." Spike answered.

"Both of you can it. Spike what happened." Buffy snapped.

Spike began his story. Buffy interrupted now and than with questions.

"The monk, what did he look like?" She asked when Spike mentioned him.

"Bout my height. Brown hair. Long scar down his fore arm."

"Giles, that's the same monk I saw. He got that scar when he slit his arm." Buffy looked to her mentor. He incliened his head in agreement and Spike continued his story.

He told them what the monk said, editing the vision the monk showed him out- some things were just private, how he received a soul and gave some of his blood.

"How do we know you have a soul? You could be lying." Buffy demanded.

"Oh he has one." Anya spoke up. The entire group turned to stare at her. "What? I was a demon for over a thousand years. I can still tell if something has a soul or not. It's one of the ways demons recognize each other."

"Ok, Spike has a soul. Where does Drusilla fit in?" Buffy asked.

Spike looked at her. "Well Slayer, remember how I said the monk said, blood of the unclean to impregnate the unclean… making it pure." Buffy nodded. "Well here's what I figure. They took my blood, blood of the unclean. Put it in that sphere thing, then used that to literally impregnate Dru, the other unclean mentioned."

Silence fell over the group as they took it all in. One by one they turned to stare at the insane woman.

"Naughty, naughty star," She giggled, "putting that inside me. Not supposed to happen like that."

"So what you're saying Spike," Giles said turning back to the bleached blonde vampire, "it that you think Drusilla, your former lover is…"

"Pregnant. And I'm the father, so to speak." Finished Spike.

The group turned once again to stare at Drusilla. She sat on her chair giggling like a mad woman, still muttering about the stars.

Spike turned away from her first. He reached into his coat and pulled out the sphere. Handing it to Giles he said, "This is what they used. I don't know what it is exactly though."

Giles to the sphere and gently examined it, "well it's obviously supernaturally made."

"How can you tell?" asked Anya ever curious.

"Well it's so shiny." Giles answered. "Buffy, is it the same sphere you saw the monk have?"

Buffy took the object from Giles. "Yeah. It looks like the same one… less shiny and glowy than it was but still the same." She turned back to Spike. "Where were you? Do you know why the monk choose Dru?"

"We were in the Chez Republic. Some old monastery in the mountains, Dru makes sense. They chose me cuz I was an unsouled vampire you were on speaking terms with. I used to love Dru, the monk must have known I'd protect her. Bring her here. Throw in the fact that she sees the future she's an obvious choice."

The grouped talked for another hour before Joyce noticed it was almost three am. They decided that Spike and Drusilla would stay at the Summers' home for now, or at least until they figured this thing out. After the gang left and Joyce had made up two beds in the guest room, Spike led Dru up the stairs. Buffy went up to her own bedroom. Spike came out of the guest room just as she was about to enter hers.

"Wait," she said stopping him, "Why did you do it? Why did you get a soul?" She didn't know why but she felt like the answer was important some how.

Spike looked at her, each unable to read the others face. "Reasons I guess luv." He lied.

Buffy nodded once before going into her bedroom. Spike stared after her as she shut the door. Shaking his head sadly he went down stairs to get a glass of water for Drusilla. Buffy stared at the door she had just closed wondering what reasons could have possibly made Spike choose to receive a soul.

In the house a voice whispered in the walls, reaching the ears of the vampire and slayer.

"Remember, it's always the blood."

Both the slayer and the blonde vampire itched the long scars mirrored on their left palms.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/n so this chapter started off as a much longer chapter. but i decided its best to split it up into two. it just flowed better. now quick rant. being a girl sucks at times. i have a maybe lunch date with a very attractive guy from my university. good right? well i have no idea if its a date or not. now my last good date was about oh maybe almost a year and a half ago. the others i have been board by the other person or it was just a bad date aka he tried to get me naked. seriously unattractive idea just sayin... (they never got anywhere so its all good) so i'm a bit nervous right? well my 8 year old sister offered to help me get ready... cant say no but come on... 8 years old playing dress up with big sissy?so the point of this is i have no idea what to wear and am worried about random word vomit that comes back to embarrass me, seriously i'm a gold mine for random facts. so any suggestion are practically begged for. and male any reader should learn how to make it clear if its a lunch get together or a date. end rant... so back to my story i had some issues with these next two chapters (chpt nine coming later today). i wanted to communicate somethings but i'm not sure how i did. let me know! more details in next chapter.**

**read review enjoy**

**Disclaimer; i may have a date... i dont know. but i do know i dont own this.**

Chapter Eight

After leaving the Summers home Willow and Tara returned to the dorms. As they turned down their bed together Tara asked, "What do you think? About Spike?"

Willow paused what she was doing to think for a bit. She remembered when Spike had kidnapped her and Xander. Yeah he might have been evil than but he had really loved Drusilla. As sickened as she was with his obsession with Buffy she didn't doubt it was on some level real. "I don't know. He has a soul now. But he did try to kill us. More than once. But so did Angel. And I think Spike does love Buffy and it's different than Angel. But we cant really compare the tow 'cus their different. And I remember how much he loved Drusilla so I know he can love…" Willow trailed off at Tara's giggle. "I'm being over reacto girl again aren't I?" Tara nodded and Willow blushed, "I guess what he does with it will tell us." She finished sheepishly.

Tara smiled at her lover. "Come here she said." The two women climbed into bed, falling asleep arms wrapped around each other.

"What are you saying Xander exactly?" Anya asked as he unlocked the door to the apartment they shared.

"What I'm saying Anya is that Spike is still a demon and we can't completely trust him." Xander sighed, Anya and he had been having this discussion sense they got into the car.

"So you're saying demons can't be trusted ever? That they can't change?" Anya asked slightly upset.

"Yes!" Xander looked at Anya, seeing her face he understood now what she was asking, indirectly applying Spike's situation to her own. "No, Anya, I don't mean you. You are human now. You're not a demon anymore."

"But I was. For over a thousand years! I was a demon for longer than Spike's been a vampire and for much longer than I've been human!" Anya shouted, clearly upset. She was shocked at the insensitivity that Xander showed. Although she admitted to herself she might be taking it too literally. As she was learning humans didn't always say what they mean. That didn't change the fact she was still upset however. "I know you think that sometimes! Anya's to literal, she only cares about money. What am I doing with Anya! I'm not so different than Spike!"

"Anya! I just don't trust him. He's not you!" Xander cried frustrated.

"No, he's just another demon with a soul. Not much different than an ex-demon who's now human!" Anya stalked into the bedroom slamming the door behind her. Xander heard the click of the lock. He knocked forcefully on the door.

"Anya, come on. Don't be like this!" he called through the closed door.

Anya threw the door open. She flung a pillow, blanket and some pajamas into Xanders exasperated arms. "Be like what Xander? A demon?" she demanded. She slammed the door again clicking the lock once more firmly in place.

Xander stared at the door for a moment before gathering the bed things and making up the couch. Both Anya and Xander fell into a fit full sleep tossing and turning.

Xander and Anya weren't the only ones to sleep fitfully. Dreams disturbed the sleep of everyone in the Summers home.

"_**Drusilla," the stars said to her as she lay in the grass, "Protect it." **_

_**She smiled as the stars danced for her in the sky coming closer and closer. She giggled and stood up dancing with the stars to a melody only she could here.**_

Spike lay on a mattress that Joyce Summers had put on the guest room floor. He watched Dru for awhile, smiling contently in her sleep, before finally falling asleep himself.

_**He sat up and looked around him. It only took a moment to remember where he was. Romania. Darla was horrified at what the Gypsy's had done to Angel- cursing him with a soul. They took Angel away from Darla and she wanted her revenge on them. Darla was cold and cruel, nothing would stop her from punishing the Gypsy's. They refused to take back the soul and for that they would pay. Tonight they would go to the Gypsy camp. Him, Dru and Darla. **_

_**The three of them entered the camp. Darla turned to Spike and Drusilla."Kill them. Kill them all."**_

_**A few short hours later the camp was reduced to nothing but flames, ashes and bloodied dismembered corpses. Darla surveyed the work satisfied that revenge had been taken out. Without a word she turned, her dress still spotless despite the ruin around her, and walked away into the night. Spike dug around in some of the caravans looking for anything worth taking, he barely noticed her leaving. Jumping out of the wagon he turned to watch Drusilla.**_

_**Drusilla laughed, "Blood, blood we spill their blood." Her once white dress was now stained with red streaks. Spike laughed and twilered her around grandly.**_

"_**Where's Daddy?" she asked, not yet noticing that her "grandmummy" had also gone seemingly forever, "He's not going to like it that we massacred without him."**_

"_**Daddy's not coming back Dru. It's just you and me luv." Spike laid her down in the grass. Flopping down beside her they continued to revile in the bloodshed.**_

_**Making sense in the way only dreams do scene changed. A montage of faces, men, women and children from all four corners of the world flashed across the 3-D imaging of his mind. Starting with his first kill, reeling into others. Some flickered and faded barely remembered times others paused, each emotion felt once again, both his and his victims.**_

_**The montage reeled faster and faster finally stopping at the face that had kept him sane his first few days with a soul. The slayers. After pausing on her for a moment the image changed. Buffy stood in the living room of her house staring out the window. In her arms she held a small bundle. After a moment Spike realized the bundle was a baby. His baby. He knew that with utter conviction. Dru's baby. Somehow that didn't feel right. He couldn't put the same conviction into the words even if they were only spoken in his head. That didn't make sense.**_

_**Buffy looked up from the window she was standing at and turned to him. "Blood's important you know. It decides who we are. Helps shape what we become. Protect her Spike, protect your blood."**_

Spike sat straight up in bed, a feeling he couldn't name tugged at his stomach. Pondering his dream he went down the stairs quietly. A cup of blood might calm his nerves. Or so he hoped.

Buffy tossed and turned before falling in a fitful sleep.

_**She sat on the beach again, the monk beside her. She knew without knowing the monk wasn't visiting her dreams again. His image was just being borrowed for her minds purposes. **_

"_**Why are you here?" he asked.**_

"_**I needed to think." She replied. She like this place, nothing was rushed here nothing seemed so important it couldn't wait. The world didn't need to be saved and demons didn't need to be slayed. It was peaceful. The only peaceful place left in her world.**_

"_**Why are you still confused? He has a soul now." She could no longer see the monk yet his calming tones floated over her.**_

"_**Yes but, now what? It looks like he's on the daddy to be road, and she's back to. Plus theirs the whole evil creature we don't know anything about; whose defeat may or may not depend on his kid. Right now we know nothing. Now isn't the time for any hanky-panky."**_

"_**Remember, trust…" the monks final words drifted off as the scene spun itself, changing to the ruble of the school. Glory stood over destruction. She turned to Buffy,**_

"_**Isn't it beautiful?" She asked the slayer, "everything broken and destroyed. This is what your world will look like if you don't stop me. And you can never stop me. Toodles." The blonde woman gave a feminine girlish wave and disappeared. Buffy watched as the destruction of the school started to burn. In the flames she could see the faces of her friends and family slowly burning to oblivion.**_

**some quick shout outs. Boris Yelstin has been awesome on both my stories, Lady Anne Boylen again is amazing at reviews. MNWillow(numbers i forgot sorry!) is also awesome (thanks for the get well wishes) and to the devils handbasket- yes you did sound trasilvanian and it was epic. thanks bunches for both of your amazing reviews. to everyone else i try to answer all not anonymous reviews so if i didnt get to yours feel free to yell at me! and to anonymous reviewers i want to answer you guys but i cant. and its not my fault you guys are loved and appreciated all of you!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/n ok quick explainy i wanted to do last chapter but i wasnt sure how much sense it would make until after this chapter. you know how each season not only has a big bad but an underlying life theme. season five was growing up and death season six life and season seven power. well i'm combining the themes of five and six for this story. so at some points this is going to be a little/lot dark and depressing. not all the time though. i'm not taking to many episode ideas from 6 except maybe tabula rasa and a few others but the theme of life and how sometimes it kicks you in the rear is a part of this. i'm kicking around a sequel idea and if it comes to be born season sevens theme aka power will come to play. umm... other important things... oh i tried to write spikes accent more so let me know if it worked. if it did i'll keep writing it like this other wise you'll have to hear it in your head as you read... and most importantest... THANKS to all my regular reviewers, same as last time and everyone else who reviewed. i would love to hear from more people to though. let me know what you think. suggest idea's, tell me how bad my grammar is, anything! read review enjoy**

**DISCLAIMER: i am a broke university student, if i owned this i would be a rich university student**

Buffy woke with a start to find herself tangled in her sheets. Her body was shaking partly from the nightmare and partly from the feel of a breeze caressing her sweat soaked skin. Disentangling herself she went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She looked in the mirror and stared at her reflection. She decided to go downstairs and make herself a cup of tea. She wouldn't be getting much more sleep tonight.

Walking into the kitchen Buffy found Spike sitting at the island with a mug in his hands. He was staring out the window.

"What are you doing down here all wakey?" she asked stopping in the doorway.

He turned to look at her before going back to the window. "Couldn't sleep. Came down for a mug of blood with a shot of whiskey, thought it migh' help. You?"

"Tea." Buffy said, crossing over to the kitchen sink to retrieve the tea kettle. Pouring water into the kettle she set it gently on the stove, careful avoid any extra noise. "I couldn't sleep either." The pair sat in silence, broken when the tea kettle whistled. "Spike," she started as she poured the water into her mug.

"Yeah, luv?" he looked up at her expectantly.

"The monk," she paused again rubbing her head against the impending headache. Spike held up his flask in offering. After a moment of thought she nodded her head. Spike tipped the flask pouring some of the amber liquid in to her tea. "Thanks," she continued, "the monk, does he ever… well come to your dreams? Like not in a dreamy way; in a real worldy way… like he's really there… in essence." Buffy stared into her cup. She listened as he took a long drag from his mug. After having Spike and Angel around for her whole time in Sunnydale someone drinking blood with whiskey or even weetabix mixed in was now the norm, she no longer gave it a passing thought. She worried more about Spike's pause than a vampire sipping a bloody whiskey across from her.

He set his mug down, "Yeah, I reckon he does. 'E don't always look like 'imself. Sometimes i's just a voice, other times he looks like himself, and sometimes…" he trailed off taking another swig of blood.

"What, sometimes what Spike?" Buffy finally looked up from her cup into the Spike's crystal blue eyes, hoping to get some answers that finally made sense.

"S'times i's you once o' twice it was me mum or someone I ate. Always cryptic messages, sometimes they make a little sense. Most the times it's easier to figure out Dru's babble than the dreams." Draining the last of his blood he brought his mug to the sink. He liked Joyce; she didn't need to wash out his bloody cups.

"She's still evil you know." Buffy said.

"Who is luv?" Spike asked unnessaricily from the sink.

"Drusilla. She's still evil; you can't forget that even if she is pregnant." Buffy shifted uncomfortably on her stool. As true as it was, telling a newly souled vampire the future mother of his child was more likely to kill a baby than to care for it was never a walk in the park.

Spike laughed a bit, a low laugh from the back of his throat, "Oh trust me I know. She's madder than a hatter she is." He paused, digging through his memory, "There was one thing the monk said though. One of the almost clear things, he said; born new, souled, mother and child. He also said; impregnate the unclean, making it clean. I forgot to tell the watcher and Red. If I had to guess though I think it might mean as the child grows something in Dru might to." He finished washing his cup and turned to look at Buffy with a shrug. "Probably hogwash though."

He came back from the sink to sit next to Buffy. "We'll figure it out Slayer, you and the Scoobies hell even your mum; you guys are a crack team on your own."

"Really?" She asked, needing a boost right now. She was fighting blind. Before this there had always been some prophecy, some blatant threat or some sort of clue. The master, Spike himself her junior year, the mayor and even Adam, they had some information. Here all they knew was that Glory was strong, some babblings of a possibly insane monk, a mention of a rip in time whatever that meant and a knocked up vampire. Essentially they had nothing.

"Hey you foiled all of my plans." Spike nudged the Slayer playfully. A ghost of a smile crossed her face as she nudged him back. As quickly as it came the smile disappeared. Becoming sober once more she turned to Spike.

"It's going to get bad Spike. I can feel it. It's going to get really bad. For everyone Spike, you, me, the Scoobies. Everyone. And I can't stop it. This is bigger than anything we've done before, anything we've faced. I'm scared Spike. She's stronger than me. I had that bruise for over a week after she attacked in the warehouse. How am I supposed to beat her?"

Spike put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. He expected her to pull away, but in a moment that Buffy would later claim as moment of weakness she let herself relax in his embrace. The two former enemies and now reluctant allies sat in silence slowly taking in the comfort of each other. Both were chosen in their own way, one a demon who chose to become something more than the monster and turn himself into the man she wanted to see, the other a girl thrust into a duty bigger than she was, forced to grow up and hide that from everyone.

Upstairs in the master bedroom the only non supernatural member of the house received her own message.

"_**Joyce, listen!" **_

_**Joyce sat up in her bed. Although she never experienced something so directly supernatural she didn't have to question the origin of this dream.**_

"_**What?" she asked seemingly into the air.**_

"_**She must be ready. You must help her be ready." The voice echoed in her ears the finality of it resounding into her bones.**_

"_**Buffy." She stated, "It's her time." She didn't question the statement. The finality of it resonated with truth. She wasn't upset just accepted the truth. There would be time to worry and think later. For now she had to listen so she could understand.**_

"_**It is. She will know when Joyce. But you must go and prepare a way. Do not be afraid. All will work out as it should in the end. You will know when it is your time. You will know what to say. Trust her. She has been chosen long before this. From the day she was called she was chosen. And the day she survived the Master she sealed her fate. The Powers that Be have allowed certain moments, challenges to prepare her. It has to be like this. The rip in time must be repaired." The voice was kind but firm. It left no chance for misinterpretation.**_

"_**This is the right way? The only way?" Joyce asked.**_

"_**It is."**_

"_**And she will be happy? It's best for her?" Joyce trusted whoever she was speaking but a mothers instincts stretched farther than trusting blindly.**_

"_**Yes. It is best."**_

_**It didn't escape Joyce he didn't mention her daughters happiness but she knew better than to question anymore.**_

"_**OK. I will do it." **_

"_**Remember Joyce, prepare the way for her."**_

Sitting up in her bed Joyce heard the voices of Buffy and Spike downstairs in the kitchen. Filing her dream away to think about tomorrow she rolled back over in bed and went back to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I am again staying up way to late to post this but I guess university isnt too important... shout outs to the four readers perviously mentioned in other notes. they rock and review every single chapter. arent they cool? To Captian Grammar (he he giggle giggle) your two comments made my day epically. As for how I right so much well theres a story there. One of my best friends passed away six months ago from cancer. sense than I've been having more problems than normal sleeping. well I figured out if i take like half an hour or so almost every night to write a bit I sleep alot better. so with that I can update quickly. but like i said your comments made me epically happy :) just a little back story. this chapter should be pretty clear cut so any questions just ask!**

Chapter Ten

Buffy woke the next morning to a chink in her neck other less pleasant things. She was on her couch leaned against Spike. She wondered how she got there before remembering after she finished her tea they went to sit down. Neither ready to mount the stairs and once again become lost in their dreams. So they sat and talked. About Spike having a soul, his guilt, his need for some sort of redemption, about her duty, how she was damned to never have a normal existence.

"If I could stop fighting," She blurted at one point, "If I was given the choice… I couldn't do it. Not anymore. At one time yes. I don't know when that changed. I want to talk to my friends about boys, school. Or the latest movie in the theater. Not demons or vampires or another apocalypse or prophecy. Sometimes I want to be normal." She paused staring off into space as if she could see life she might have been given the opportunity to live it. "But I can't. Even if Drusilla hadn't killed Kendra, even if Faith hadn't become evil, I could never have stopped. I never can stop. And sometimes, sometimes I want to be able to more than anything."

"Do you really pet?" Spike asked her. "Can you honestly say you'd change it all now if you could? Go back to being some blonde lil Goldie Locks unable to protect 'erself or her friends? Too being vaurnrable? I know you Slayer, I know deep down, or even not so deep you love the power. So tell me, do you really?"

She thought of that for a moment. "No, I don't want to be that again," she finally answered, "Your right. I do love it. Not just for the power but knowing I do something good something no one else can… but I would trade that to know that just being around me wouldn't kill my friends, knowing that I'd never have to make the choice to send my boyfriend to hell to save the world. Never being afraid for the ones I love all the time because one day I might not be there in time. I'd give everything I've gained the last five years sense I was called when I was fifteen if I could know that they were safe."

The conversation didn't flow. It came in short spurts and stops. Words bubbling to the surface uncensored.

"How do you do it Spike? Live with it?"

He didn't have to ask to know what she meant. "Some days I don' know luv. Few days it was you, daring me with that damn look of yours to be a better man. You always treated me like man… and well…" Spike trailed off leaving the sentence unfinished, "Other days it was something else. The baby. When I was human I wanted to be a dad. Than it just was obvious it wouldn't happen. The monk helped a few times. An' I knew I had to take care of Dru. Bloody hell I don't even like the crazy bitch any more but I 'ave to protect the kid. An' I would be lying I guess if I said I didn't feel anything for Dru. Feelings of a hundred fifty plus years don't just go away s'ppse"

It went on for the whole night. A tirade of brutal honesty that rarely was present in normal communication. The sun rose as they nodded off to sleep, leaning into each other.

Buffy didn't know what time it was when she woke up. She cracked her neck surprised that the noise didn't wake Spike up. A giggle from the other side of the room drew her eyes to the chair. Drusilla sat in the chair giggling her insane giggle. Not for the first time Buffy was tempted to shove a stake though her heart. If it hadn't been for the baby Buffy might have.

"Naughty, naughty Spike. He's not supposed to do that. Its unnatural it is." She smiled gently combing her dolls hair. She rocked back and forth in the chair.

"Do you need anything Drusilla?" Buffy asked. She had no idea what to do with the vampire. She couldn't really be left alone with anyone but her and Spike but she had to stay at the Summers residences to be sure she didn't eat anyone. Plus even if she was crazy and dangerous Buffy knew her mother couldn't though a pregnant woman out of the house. Speaking of pregnancy Buffy didn't know the first thing about it. She didn't give a rat's left buttocks about the mother but the baby was important. Not just because of her significance either, this baby deserved to have the chance Buffy herself never got.

"Blood."

"We have some in fridge I'll get it for you."

"No!" Drusilla shouted causing Spike to start. He was more than a bit surprised to find himself on the couch with the Slayer, until he remembered the previous night. Turning to Drusilla he tried to figure out what the hell had caused her to yell like a banshee.

"No!" she shouted again, "Icky, nasty dead blood. I want real blood. Flowing, alive! I want blood."

He laughed a bit at the Slayers face as she tried to think of a way to deal with his literally insane ex.

"Dru," he cut in, "It's all there is. Now be a good girl and eat it." He was used to her ways, knew how to read her moods.

She pouted at him. Three years ago that look would have made him her slave. Now it barely stirred anything. Drew stormed off into the kitchen. Spike reluctantly sighed and followed her. He was heating up blood for both himself and Dru when Joyce and Buffy joined them. The strange group of four sat around the island all eating or drinking their respective breakfasts.

"The gang is coming over again today," Buffy turned to her mother breaking the silence.

"I guessed as much. Saturday's your generally here or at the Magic Box. I figured because of last night it would be here. I'll pick up some groceries when I run to the gallery later this morning." Buffy smiled at her mother, silently giving her thanks.

She then turned to Spike and Drusilla, "There has to be a few ground rules," she began, "Spike either you or I have to be with Drusilla at all times. She's insane already and she's going to get hormonal. We're the only ones who can control her. Obviously you two can leave the house but I have to know when and where. And when Drusilla starts showing you won't be able to. I don't want Glory to somehow get a hint at what's going on. Will she stay…" Buffy paused trying to think of the apporpiate word, "constructively busy when the gangs here? We have to get more information on this baby. I mean we _think _its human but what does that mean._"_

"Now you sound a bit like Red." Spike stated, "And yeah. We brought her dolls she should be fine upstairs."

"Ok, good. Now we just have to make sure she doesn't kill anyone."

Buffy had barely finished her sentence when Drusilla said "he he, the blood its flowing now. And the world is all black and dark and wonderful. Run and catch, run and catch the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch…" she laughed even harder as she said, "It all comes down to the blood. It's going to be positively evil."

The others stared at her, all of them wondering the same thing. Was this a prediction or the insane mutterings of a crazy vampire.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/n i know I know I know its been a really really long time. but first I had computer issues and than i had writers block issues. This is what I came up with so I hope you like it! Oh and work and school tired to kick me in the butt. I had the worst night at work a few days ago, puked on, spit on and almost bitten. Sounds like fun? not really. I love my job but lord help me some nights... well read review and enjoy!**

Chapter Eleven

Drusilla sat in the guest bedroom that was now hers and Spikes. Twenty dolls in all rested on the dresser surface, not counting the one in her hands. Drusilla sat in her white gown in the middle of the mattress Spike slept on. She slowly brushed the hair of the doll that sat in her lap.

"What's that Ms. Eidith?" She said. She paused as if the doll was answering back. "No, we can't go out and play. Not yet. We have to wait." She paused and smiled, "Wait for the stars to come out and play."

She continued to brush the dolls hair with one hand while the other came to rest absent mindedly on her still flat stomach. "It's inside of me." She told her doll, "that naughty star put it inside of me. But don't worry it'll come out soon."

Drusilla stood up and set Ms. Eidith back on the dresser. She surveyed her dolls for a moment before reaching for a smiling brunette one. Settling herself back down she renewed the task of brushing this dolls hair.

"Yes Ms. Mary," She said in answer to the dolls unheard question, "My Spike has changed. He's all full of slayer now. Whenever I look at him, all I see is her." Drusilla frowned; a small wrinkle that marred her smooth unvamped forehead. "He's like Daddy now. There's a light in him. The star put it in him. Naughty, naughty star. Playing with these things. It's not good. Not good at all."

Drusilla turned the doll to face her. Frowning again she stared at the dolls dead eyes. Without a moment's notice she violently threw the doll at the wall. Its porcelain limbs shattered away from the body on impact. Drusilla stamped her foot and screamed like a small child.

Within a few moments Spike was opening her door. "You alright Dru?" He asked trying to appear unconcerned as he looked around the room for intruders.

When she turned to look at him all traces of her temper tantrum disappeared from her face. "Ms. Mary didn't want to play and had to be punished."

Used to her rages and temper tantrums Spike didn't question her words, just merely smiled and nodded at her. "I'll be back up in a bit Dru. Gotta finish with things downstairs. Than tonight you and me pet will go for a walk."

Spike left the room, closing the door again behind him. Drusilla stood in the middle of the room, unmoving, until the conversation once more began downstairs. As she listened to the murmurs of conversation she picked up the dolls cracked head. Cradling the dismembered doll in her hands she sat back down and began to hum dreamily to herself once more.

Spike paused outside the door of the room he shared with his literally crazy ex. He heard the conversation slow pick up again downstairs and Drusilla start humming in her room. He shook his head at that, the vampire that would rip apart a child and giggle in the violence would also hug a doll and hum softly. Spike thought back in time for a few moments to when Dru's scream penetrated the conversation downstairs. He looked the Slayer in the eye and before it even registered she gave a small barely perceptible nod. Go, go check on her, it said, make sure your baby is ok. Because that's who he went to check on. Not Dru, his insane slightly scary, sadistic ex, but the baby. His baby.

An image flashed in Spikes mind. Of a little brunette haired, hazel eyed little girl running in a park. Racing someone behind her to the swing set. His little girl. He remembered the dream the monk showed him, of Buffy cradling his child, it was an image he liked.

Shaking his head at the absurdity of the idea, while he loved Buffy even if she managed to reciprocate the feelings a child between the two of them was impossible. A vampire couldn't have children. Dru was a once in a… well existence… chance. They took his blood for that. Something like that didn't happen twice.

Spike reentered the dining room where the Scoobies plus Joyce gathered at the table. When he entered the room Buffy glanced at him, meeting his eyes and holding them. He smirked a little half smile that drove her mad in her direction and nodded. She breathed a silent sigh of relief. Drusilla was ok, which meant the baby was ok.

Buffy watched as Spike sat down and rejoined the discussion. She turned her attention from him and focused on what Giles was saying.

"Spike, do you know when exactly Drusilla conceived so to speak?" He asked the bleach blonde vampire.

"Three weeks, maybe into four. I don't know exactly, there were a couple times when I was out, don't know for how long."

"Has she had any symptoms of pregnancy?" Giles pressed.

Spike paused and thought. He never really paid attention to pregnant women before. Unsure at best described his knowlage base in this area.

"Well she's been tired lately. She complains of headaches more and more. A few times when we were traveling here she threw up after eating. I thought it was because of the animal blood but that may have been morning sickness. It stopped pretty quick though."

"Well by medical standards a women is deemed pregnant the day after her last menstrual cycles, or about two weeks before they conceive. So using that time line Drusilla is in her sixth week. However if what Spike says is true her symptoms are more centered around the tenth or twelfth week. Have you seen her stomach? Is the uterus protruding yet?" the watcher once again turned to Spike.

"Not that I can tell. I personally haven't seen anything but she wears those loose dresses or skirts most of the time." Spike admitted, wondering if this was something he should have seen. His daughter- he didn't know how he knew it just felt more natural to say daughter, she, her instead of it or him- wasn't even born yet and he was failing as a father.

Giles nodded, suspecting as much. "Well," he said, "an ultrasound would be able to give us these answers but we can not merely take a pregnant vampire to the hospital and ask for one. For one thing she 's dead. For another… well I must admit the dead one is most of my reasoning."

"What about pre-natal care?" Joyce spoke up. The group turned and looked at her like she decided to grow a third head. "Care before the baby is born," she explained, "when I was pregnant with Buffy I had special vitamins, special diet, doctor appointments and everything. Shouldn't Drusilla be getting something?"

"Well, logically thinking yes she should, continuing with that logic she should be drinking human blood. From what I know of when I spoke with Angel and Spike on the subject, human blood is more nutritious than animal blood." Giles speculated. "But we can't have her going out and murdering people every night."

"No, but we can give her human blood." Buffy said thoughtfully remembering back to a night long ago, during her sophomore year in high school. A couple of vamps had tried to rob the Sunnydale blood bank. Why couldn't they do the same thing for Drusilla?

"What?" Willow asked confused and concerned.

"Buffy?" Xander's tone echoed, laced with concern.

"You ok pet?" Spike asked evenly.

"Buffy," Anya said, "I know this baby is important but we can't have her running around and killing people. I'm an ex vengeance demon and I know that."

The group continued to babble around her, listening for a moment she held up her hand and waited for her friends to quiet so she could explain.

"I'm not saying we give her n chain saw and let her loose on the town. But guys remember the blood bank? We could get some of that blood. I don't want to steal it. Is there a way we could do that, Giles?" She asked turning to her mentor.

"Well, we could buy some, that's one viable option." Giles said considering it. "It's not a bad idea to say the least." He concluded.

The group continued to discuss what they could do for Dru.

"I'll say it again," Giles said, "we need to do an ultra sound."

"What about a confusion spell?" Willow popped in. She glanced over at Tara who nodded before she continued, "You know. Put a confusion spell on the nurse so she thinks she did all the vitals and that do the ultrasound?"

"You know Will, that's not a bad idea." Buffy said turning the plan over in her head. "Could you work that?" she asked the witch.

Willow turned to Tara for conformation, "We could. I think. Right Tara?"

"If we combined our powers, but a glamour might work better than a confusion spell. We could glamour the nurse to feel a pulse and hear a heartbeat. Or maybe even glamour one of us to look like Drusilla." Tara suggested..

"Glamor? Explainy please." Buffy said, thinking of the Harry Potter book she read once.

"An illusion spell." Tara explained, "One of us would take on the image of Drusilla, whoever did it would remain themselves to everyone but the person glamoured. So if we glamoured the nurse she would think Drusilla was one of us, and that person was Drusilla, she would take that persons vitals than when we were alone we'd remove the glamour so the doctor could examine Drusilla." The group stared at Tara who blushed at what was the longest speech she ever made to the group.

"What about the other idea?" Buffy asked, "Make them think they feel it?"

"Well, making someone feel something instead of just seeing it is harder." Willow jumped in, "It's like the glamour is little baby magic, but the other one? That's big stuff. Harder."

"But can you do it?" Buffy pressed.

The two lovers looked at each other again. Silently communicating the way two people with strong ties, roots and connections were able to. After a moment Willow turned to the group, "Yeah, if we work together we can."

Spike and Buffy locked eyes, sharing a looked that mirrored the one shared by Willow and Tara. Spike gave her the tiniest of nods that went unnoticed by everyone but Buffy and Joyce. Joyce knew the nod wasn't meant for her to see and kept silent, the monk's words from her dream filtering in to her subconscious.

Buffy sighed. "Mom? Can you call the hospital and make an appointment for your niece to have an ultrasound. I think that's the best story. Your niece got pregnant and is staying with you. Does she have a last name we could use? Anything?" She turned to Spike asking him.

"None that I know of. I used to be William Pratt, not the best name but if we don't find hers out she can use mine. Its not who I am anymore." Spike said.

"I'll call Angel." Buffy said. "See if he knows. Giles, more research please? Mean while Willow, Tara, can you take care of the hocus pocus end of the deal?" The two witches nodded.

"Good," Buffy said, "Now all we have to do is make sure Drusilla doesn't eat the hospital staff."

The group laughed at the quip and went to work on their respective tasks.

"Hey Xander, Anya, wait a second. Mom, you and Spike, to." Buffy called.

The couple held back as Buffy and Joyce said good bye to everyone. Once the witches and the watcher left the four remaining went to the kitchen.

"Mom don't get upset but Spike and I talked about this last night. I want you to stay with Anya and Xander for awhile. Just until we know more about Drusilla and how she'll act." Buffy said in a rush waiting for her mother to protest the idea.

"Well, I don't like the thought of leaving you here alone," Joyce said slowly pondering the idea, "but Spike will be here with you and he can't really keep sleeping on the guest room floor. Opening up a third bedroom makes sense."

She paused thinking again of her dream. _You must go first; prepare the way,_ the monk's voice once again filling her head.

"I suppose if Xander and Anya don't mind me intruding that'd be fine." She concluded.

"Don't worry Joyce. We have an extra bedroom you can use."

"Yes, please feel free to come in and eat our food." Anya added, "as long as you don't mind us having loud spontaneous sex."

"Anya," Xander said patiently, "What did we talk about. You know how something's you just don't say around your friends parents."

"Don't worry Xander." Joyce said kindly while trying to block the mental images from her mind, "it's quite all right. I'm sure we can figure it out."

"Good," Buffy said cutting in, "Mom, I want you to leave tonight. Xander, I also want some kind of alarm hooked up to Drusilla's door and window. Can you do that?"

"Course I can Buff," Xander said fringing a hurt look at her doubting his skills.

"I want that done as soon as possible. Like done yesterday."

"On it Buffy. C'mon An let's get home so we can get the guest room ready and stop for some groceries."

"But why do we have to…" Anya started to ask.

"I'll explain in the car," Xander cut her off.

Once the pair left Buffy turned to her mom. "Sorry for kicking you out of your own home mom but I think this is safest."

"I know honey." Joyce Summers kissed her daughters forehead and went up stairs to start getting her things ready for moving.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N I got fifty reviews! I got fifty reviews! (happy dance happy dance happy dance) so personally i really like this chapter. I had fun writing it. Funny little story... My mother is convinced I'm pregnant. When working on the last chapter for Dru's pregnancy i googled a weekly pregnancy schedule so I had the right information. well I mistakenly left that window up and when my mom used my computer she saw it. (It was open to twelve weeks) I just returned from South America a little more than a month ago. I also gained a little weight this month. Well I have a really f(^&* up hormonal system so whenever it gets close to my "time of the month" my body goes though pregnancy sypmtoms and sometimes my "time of the month" doesn't come for about three months. well my mom noticed it had been awhile sense I bought tampons and casually asked me when my last period was. thinking it was weird but answering honestly about three months my mother proceeded to ask me very very seriously, Lia, are you pregnant? it took me an hour to convince her I wasnt and i'm not sure it worked. anywhoo enough on that READ REVIEW and enjoy :)**

**DISCLAIMER: the rating is still T but I feel that I should have mentioned sooner that there will be sex (not in this chapter), I will use discriptive writing for it (or as best I can as I am still a virgin) and swear in this story and use sexual innuendos. If your uncomfortable with this skip over those parts.**

"Wake up Spike."

Spike sat up in the master bedroom. Joyce moved in with Xander and Anya earlier that evening, insisting Spike take the bedroom. He glanced over at the clock on the side table. The numbers 3:47 flashed in red across his face.

"What the bloody hell is it Slayer? Something Happen with Dru?" worry flashed across him. Why else would Buffy be waking him up at this God forsaken hour.

"No Spike. I can't sleep, wake up!" was her quick reply.

Oh, that's why, Spike thought. Try as he might however he couldn't be annoyed.

"Spike, hurry up." Buffy demanded

"Bloody hell Slayer. I'm awake."

Spike stood from the bed. Blushing Buffy turned her head seeing that Spike slept without a stitch of clothing on. Spike noticed the blush that crept up her cheeks and smiled to himself. He also hoped she liked what she saw. If the small smirk on her face was anything to go by, she did. He grabbed his pants from the floor and pulled them on. Hearing the whisper of the zipper and the jingle of the belt buckle Buffy turned back to face him.

"Let's go." She said.

The vampire and the Slayer crept quietly through the silent house. Stepping out of the back door and to the lawn Buffy faced the vampire.

"Let's spar."

"Luv you forgetin' something." Spike tapped his temple indicating his chip. The monk had said something about taking the chip but Spike didn't know what that meant. He tried attacking a human on the way from the Chez Republic a blinding head ache was his only resault.

"If you never mean to hurt me. Never intend to. That should cancel out the pain right? You've thrown hits at me before with the chip and not gotten headaches."

Spike mulled that over. Truth be told he needed a fight and if looking at Buffy was anything to tell she needed one to. His chip centered on intentions. If he didn't intend to hurt her it should protect both of them.

"Alright Slayer let's dance." He said as he assumed fighting position.

"Let's dance Spike." She replied mirroring his stance.

They slowly circled each other. Neither wanting to attack first and give the upper hand. Spike darted in to the side throwing a punch that Buffy easily skipped aside. She returned the blow with a high kick that Spike spun away from.

They continued trading blows, blocking the ones that came close dancing away from the others. They both slowly began to work up a sweat.

"C'mon Slayer! Stop holding back. Get mad and fight!" Spike yelled at her. The pair closed closer and closer together.

"I'm not holding back!" She cried. She went for another high kick to the side, one that if he wasn't fast enough would have connected with his head. She refused to admit he was right. She _was _holding back. Not much, just enough. She doubted anyone else but Spike would have noticed. But Spike had fought with her before, in almost every circum stance. They had been allies fighting other demons, enemies trying to kill each other. Never one besting the other.

"Yes you are pet. You've been playing with C'ptin Cardboard for too long." Spike said dancing closer to her. "Before him Angel. They couldn't take it. You needed to hold back just a little bit. That extra kick you have as a slayer that makes you just that much better. They couldn't handle it." He brought up his fist to hit her in the face, her arm coming up quickly to block it. For a moment the pair pressed body to body, the only sound their heavy breathing in the night. Spike leaned into her ear and whispered "But I can."

With that slayer and vampire spun away from each other continuing their dance. As she fought Buffy ignored the not so unpleasant shiver that ran down her back when Spike's whispered breath caressed her ear. Instead she focused on his words. She knew she held back, she didn't want to but she did.

"They didn't get it." She cried out frustrated, "Both of them! Angel treated slaying like something he could do for me, protect me from. After the Master…" Buffy trailed off for a moment concentrating on the series of blows she and Spike traded.

"…after the Master, he tried to take over. Protect me, well when he wasn't Angelus and trying to kill me." She smirked at the less than pleasant memories off Angelus.

"'n Cap'tn Cardboard? What about him pet?" both were breathing heavy now as they continued to talk and fight.

"_Buffy, just let us take care of it. You shouldn't rush in, unarmed without back up. It's dangerous. Just let us take care of it. It's our job."_

Riley's words repeated themselves in her head. A job, like she ever choose this.

"He treated it like it was a job, like it a nine to five but over night shifts with weapons as part of the uniform. He always wanted to take care of it." Memories of Riley trying to get her to work with the Initiative, or let them take care of it for her flashed across her mind once more.

Ducking a blow from Spike she used to momentum to swipe his legs from underneath him. She pressed her advantage to pin his hips to the ground with her own.

"What about me luv?" he asked, grabbing her around the waist with his hands.

Her face showed her confusion as Spike quickly flipped them so it was him pinning her down. He grabbed her wrists trapping them above her head.

They locked eyes, crystal blue meeting sharp green, "What about me luv?" he repeated.

She thrust her hips into the air throwing him off of her. They both rolled away and circled each other once again.

"What do you mean?" she asked continuing to circle. Dodging not only his blows but his question also, she thought she knew exactly what he meant. She just wasn't sure how to answer.

Spike darted in for a attack, again making the first move, "you know exactly what I mean pet. This is me, Big Bad and all. You haven't been able to kill me and I haven't been able to kill you. We're as close to perfectly matched as its going to get. So why hold back? Show me what a Slayer is!" He threw the words into the air as a challenge.

At his words something inside Buffy broke and that tiny bit of herself she curbed in, held back, let loose. Attacking with a new fever she said, "Alright Spike, less talk, more fight."

Dodge, kick, roll, duck, hit, lunge, block…. They continued to dance as Spike said in perfect harmony. Neither landing a blow on the other. The moves look choreographed, an intricate, deadly dance between two people who knew the others moves as well as they knew their own.

Duck, weave, block, kick, lunge… they continued faster and faster, their moves almost too fast to follow. Spike ducked in and behind the slayer, who whipped around and shoved him against a tree, her blunted stake to the point of his chest where his heart used to beat. His hands at the same time, wrapped around her neck, one twist would snap it.

They stood frozen for a moment. Their heaving chests pressed against each other. Frozen they locked eyes and stayed there.

"Stalemate," Spike said his voice low and dangerous.

"Stalemate," Buffy agreed shocked to find her voice slightly husky.

They broke away and turned back to the house each locked in his or her own thoughts. Spike thinking about that little bit of the slayer he had just seen. The one she rarely let out. Living with her friends, her mom, Angel and Riley the past few years caused her to reign a bit of her Slayerness in. Tonight she had let it free. He would be lying if he said he hadn't loved it.

Buffy thought about the fight to. Enemies turned allies sparring. Both of them perfectly matched, neither able to gain the upper hand. She admitted to herself and herself alone she liked that she didn't have to hold back for Spike. She could attack full force and he just took it in stride. Returning more often than not with an attack just as forceful of his own. She felt a commradence with the vampire, before and after his soul. All the questions she asked herself that one night at the grave yard came rushing back, the answers as confusing and elusive as before.

Side by side they mounted the stairs to the second level. At the door to her bedroom Buffy turned to Spike.

"Thanks for the dance."

Spike looked at the slayers disappearing back, seeing the beads of sweat drip down her neck, the sweat spots that darkened the gray of her sports bra. He'd be blind or stupid if he didn't want her.

"Welcome pet." He said, disappearing into his own room before he could do something stupid like press her. He still loved her like he told her almost a month and a half before but it was a different love. Before he wanted her for him, loved her selfishly. Now he still wanted her, still loved her, but selflessly. A small difference but one that was serious. He wouldn't press her now, besides he had a baby coming. What girl in her right mind would get involved in that?

After the spar Buffy was able to fall into a dark, dreamless sleep. Resting in her blankets she allowed the sleep to slowly take over, releasing all conscious thought.

Spike wasn't so lucky. After tossing and turning he fell into a fitful sleep at sunrise. He dreamed again of Buffy standing by the window, holding his daughter.

"_**Protect her Spike, both of them, protect your blood."**_

The monks voice careened though his sub-conscious, a command he didn't know how to obey.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/n sorry this took so long, one of my readers (I also read her story) threatened to go tit for tat on me for up dating... I was flattered and smiled :) but there is an explanation my muse is a bitch. she loves me and prompts me to stay up all hours of the night sometimes and than she abandons me in my hour of need. it wasnt that I had writers block for this chptr it was my muse knew exactly what she wanted but she wouldnt tell me how to get it. originally this chapter was going to be longer but I got frustrated and cut my original plan in half. Enjoy, review, read!**

**oh ps for those who asked the date... eh not gonna be another and yeah my mom still thinks I'm knocked up**

Chapter 13

When Spike came down to the kitchen the next afternoon, after he finally woke up, he heard Buffy talking on the phone to her mother.

"I know Mom, I'm sorry. But this is only for a little bit. Just until we figure out what Drusilla is going to be like. As soon as we know she's safe to be around you can come back home, and you can come over during the day to. I'll talk to Giles. I think Olivia left to go back to England. Maybe you can stay with him for awhile." Buffy paused listening to her mother respond.

"I know, I know," Buffy placated her.

Spike didn't know exactly what was being said but it sounded to him as if not all was pleasant in the Harris/Jenkins apartment.

"Mom, I'm sorry but did you call the doctor?" Buffy cut across her mother's tirade.

"Ok, good. What time? 8 o'clock? Ok good, the sun should be down by than…. yes Mom I will talk to Giles. I'm sorry it got all weirdy… Love you to. See you later this afternoon. Bye."

Buffy turned to set the phone in the cradle. Seeing Spike leaned in the doorway she jumped in surprise.

"Good Lord. Spike! You can't go all sneaky on people like that! God if I had Mr. Pointy…" She trailed off.

"Yeah, yeah, you'd stake me good and proper. So I've heard Slayer." Neither put any real bite into their words. The casual exchange between them was familiar with no menace.

"So how is dear ole mum?" Spike asked. "I didn't hear much but sounded as if she wasn't loving life with the dysfunctional couple."

"Well last night Xander and Anya apparently had a fight, and than proceeded to make up. Loudly." Buffy explained trying to hold a straight face.

Spike didn't make the same effort. Bursting out laughing he almost spilt the blood he was making for himself and Drusilla. Buffy can't help but to join his bark of laughter, adding the peal of her own voice to his baritone.

"Wait a moment," Spike said between chuckles, "I heard you Slayer. You said something about a lady friend Giles had?"

"Well duh," Buffy said. "Otherwise I would have just asked him to let mom crash. But his English _friend_ went home today. Like I said, staying at Xander's is only temporary."

"And how bout staying with the watcher?" Spike asked.

"More permanent." Buffy easily replied.

The two shared breakfast together. Moving between talking and falling into comfortable silences Buffy was genuinely sad when it the time came for her to go to college and Spike to go take care of Drusilla.

"Wait, Spike," Buffy called as he began to mount the stairs. After he turned to face her again she continued, "Drusilla has a doctor appointment. The appointments at eight and everyone's coming over at six thirty to do the hocus pocus stuff. Try to talk to her about it... Willow said she might be able to do a forgetting spell for the doctor if things go all hokey, but I don't want to have to try that."

"I will." Spike answered easily, "No promises though."

He turned to continue mounting the stairs. He waved a hand at Buffy's shouted thanks and listened as the door slammed, announcing her leaving.

Later that evening the group once again convened in the Summers' home. Willow and Tara kicked everyone out of the kitchen and began to mix the several powders they thought they would need.

"Black mustard seed for confusion," Tara reminded Willow, "careful grinding that you don't want to breath it in."

"I know." Willow answered, carefully working the seeds into a fine powder. "I'm adding some white mustard seed to this mix for protection."

"Good," Tara said smiling, "I'll work on the protection pouch."

"What did you decide to put in it?" Willow asked curiously. Her natural power was stronger than Tara's but her lover's abilities with herbs fascinated the new witch.

"Yucca, protection and purification, Wolfs bane again protection but also invisibility to guard against our spells being seen by all the not good things, Rose petals for healing, luck and protection, and violet for protection, luck, peace, healing, love and" she smiled shyly at Willow before finishing "lust."

"Mhmm," Willow said moving closer to the other witch, "I love it when you talk dirty to me."

Willow closed the small space between her and Tara, taking advantage of the fact her girlfriend was the same height as her Willow kissed Tara. They broke apart at the not so discreet cough of Xander coming into the kitchen.

"Not that I don't love the mental pictures but…" He said further announcing his presence.

The two girls turned rather sheepishly to their friend. They smiled at each other before turning back to their work.

"Did you need something?" Willow asked Xander when he didn't move away from the door.

"Umm, yeah I did," he stammered, "Just trying to get rid of some visuals." He had the decency to look a bit sheepish himself at that.

"Xander!" Willow exclaimed.

"Hey! It's not my fault. I'm a guy." He defended himself, backtracking quickly he asked "How much longer? Buffy is itching to get this over and done with."

"Yes, Xander, we're almost done." Tara laughed.

The witches shared one more kiss before turning back to their powders. Pouring the mixtures into respective cloth pouches the girls went back to the living room. The tense atmosphere in the living room contrasted with the warmth of the kitchen moments before. Drusilla sat clad in her usual old fashioned gown staring around the room with her large eyes, in the process setting everyone else on edge. Joyce's voice bubbled into exsistance every now and then in a stilted attempt to make small talk. Spike did his best to join the non exsistant flow of conversation but any attempt soon died away. Willow paused in the door way unsure of what to do.

"Ok," Tara said, "We have the packets, one if for confusion in case we need to work a quick forgetting spell…" Drusilla turned her eyes on to Tara who began to stammer, "y-y-y-y-you know j-j-j-j-just in c-c-c-c-case."

Willow jumped into the explination eagar to protect her girlfriend. "We'll put part of the confusion packet on Drusilla and part one of us will hold on to just in case. That should make the illusion harder to see through. We'll each take a pinch of the protection and put it on our person somewhere to help us."

"What about the spell?" Buffy asked. Her nerves simmered at a boil all day and they were about to boil over. She wanted this doctor's appointment done and over. The look Spike gave her told her he wanted the same thing.

"We'll do that in the parking lot. With our combined powers it should hold as long as we need it. It'll give the illusion of a pulse and heartbeat and any other human traits she needs to have. Don't worry Buffy, it'll work." Willow promised.

"Good, I'd really hate to have the crazy pregnant vampire eat the nice doctor." Xander said from his chair. Once the words left his mouth Drusilla turned to hiss at him.

"Hey!" Anya said, "Don't hiss at my boyfriend."

Spike laid a hand over Drusilla's and quietly shook his head at her. Pouting slightly she glared at him before going back to gazing into her lap, her hands crossed over the slight mound of her stomach.

"That naughty star, causing so many problems," She sang out, "What wonderful chaos."

"Right than," said Buffy, "Let's go now and get this done."

The entire group piled out of the house and into the waiting cars.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/n yes i'm sorry this has been so long. my bad. i plead guilty with an excuse. (For those of you reading both stories you know what i'm about to say) Last week while visiting my uni I made the choice to join the Air Force ROTC. So next year september not only do i begin starting a new uni as a freshmen, (I skipped my sr year and did PSEO), I will also be training as a officer in the Air Force. I'll graduate uni as a Second Lt. needless to say this choice caused a lot of discussion among my family. hence less time to write. I promise to be better in the future. side note, yes dru's pregnancy seems exreamly fast. explanation in next chapter dont worry. read review adn all that jazz. enjoy**

Chapter Fourteen

Buffy shifted her weight nervously as they waited for the nurse to call Drusilla's name. The vampire in question sat in the corner next to Spike on one side with the Scoobies flanking the other side leaving a chair open between them and Drusilla. Buffy, however, paced up and down the waiting room hall.

"Calm down pet," Spike said to her. "You're givin' me a headache."

"Oh, pardon me." Buffy snapped back. Spike raised an already cocked eyebrow at her. Buffy let out an _ugh_ of frustration and let herself flop down into the open chair. "I'm sorry for being just a titch worried about brining an insane pregnant vampire into a hospital that's just full of bleeding people to bite. Of course I should just relax."

"Well when you put it that way," Anya said after a pause as she turned to Xander, "Why are we here?"

"Anya, we talked about this, Buffy is our friend and Spike," Xander seemed at loss for words for a moment, "Well I guess Spike's just part of the deal now."

"Well Buffy is more of your friend than my friend, after all I've only known her for less than two years and I'm not sleeping with her so there's no loyalty conflictions there," Anya said, "and while I do think Spike is agreeable I'm really not that close to him either. So why are we here?"

"We're here Anya and we're staying," was the only reply Xander had.

Before Anya could reply again an intern came around the corner.

"Drusilla Pratt?" He called out. Instantly the entire group stood up.

"Ok," said the intern looking confused, "Well with a group this large only family is allowed in I'm sorry."

"I'm the father," Spike said holding on to Dru's hand lying easily, "This here is me dad," he nodded in Giles direction, "and these two ladies," he indicated to Buffy and Joyce, "are the mother's aunt and cousin."

Buffy admired the way the words easily fell from Spikes mouth. She could lie her way out of sticky situations also, only when it was slayer type business or late homework due to slayer business, but in a tight spot like this she was at a loss. She also secretly celebrated the way Spike didn't refer to Drusilla as his wife or girlfriend. She didn't know why she felt this way nor did she want to. Shoving those emotions to the bottom of her mind she turned to face the intern.

Tall she noticed, and handsome. Both were good in her book. His brown hair was longer but not so long she wanted to take a scissors to it and hack it off. All in all he was an attractive man.

"Hi, I'm Buffy," she introduced herself after her mother did, "I'm Drusilla's cousin." She flashed him a full flirty smile, only partly meant to keep any suspicion at bay.

"Ben," He said shaking her offered hand. "I'm an intern here and I'll be performing the ultrasound."

Behind Ben's back Willow gestured frantically to Buffy and then to her pocket. Buffy remembered the spells they needed. Spells they couldn't do without the witches in the room.

_Ok _Buffy thought, _you can do this. Just like that time in L.A. when you really wanted that hand bag and you got the clerk to extend the sale price. You can do this. _She carefully didn't remind herself that the hand bag incident occurred almost five years ago, nor did she remind herself of her recent dating faluries.

"Ben," she started flashing him a smile she hoped was a bit flirty and at the same time sencire, she laid a hand on his arm and led him a bit further down in the hospital hall way, "I know that normally this many people don't go in but the two girls are the godparents and well it would mean a lot to us if they could go in to."

Ben looked unconvinced so before he could answer Buffy tired again.

"I mean after all," She babbled, "it's really important for them, being the first gay godparents in the family. What would you call them? Godmother's one and two? But anyway my point is do you really want to deny them this opportunity to see their godchild for the first time. This is a big moment for the family. Plus the mother, Drusilla, was rather secretive about the pregnancy so we don't really know when the baby is due so if you can imagine it's a whole mess. I mean I know we're only cousins, Dru and me but we're as close as sisters and…"

"All right, all right Buffy don't worry. You can all come in. it won't bother me at all." Ben cut her off with a smile.

"Really?" she asked smiling.

"Really, hey if you'll meet me for coffee sometime I'll even let the other two in also."

Buffy's mind flashed to Spike and his damn smirk flashing across at her from the other side of the kitchen. As she had been for so often now she shoved those thoughts to the bottom of her mind blaming it on a cheap passing faturation. She quickly recomposed her face and flashed yet another smile.

"I'd love that." She told Ben.

They walked back to the rest of the group.

"Hey guys," Buffy called out, "Let's go, all of us."

Willow and Tara instantly got up followed by Xander and Anya. The group followed Ben into the ultrasound room. Drusilla climbed on the examining table with help from Spike. Buffy could see Spike whispering something into Drusilla's ear to soft for her to hear.

"You're not who you seem you are." Drusilla turned to Ben as he prepared the ultrasound machine. "You're a naughty, naughty boy. Just like the star. It's unnatural it is. How wonderful."

Ben turned to the vampire confused.

"Hormones." Spike said. "They seem to be making her batty."

Ben nodded at this answer, unsuspicous. Buffy kept her attention on the vampires and intern in front of her. Giles stood by the door with Anya and Xander keeping an eye on the hall way and one in the room itself. The witches stood on the same side of the room as Ben, stationed a little behind him. Barely audible they began to recite the spell they adjusted to their needs.

_Forget what is to be seen  
feel what can't exist,  
Forget the odd's  
Reality fades to mist._

Willow took a bit of the confusion powder into her hand and blew it toward Ben. For a moment his eyes went out of focus before he shook his head and continued what he was doing. When he got the machine ready he turned to Drusilla.

"Now, I just have to check your heartbeat and pulse and we can get started." Ben said as he reached for Drusilla's wrist. Buffy saw Willow grab Tara's wrist as Ben touched Drusilla's. The witches had explained that the magic would channel through Willow and she could cause Ben to feel what she felt. Or in the case of the heart beat hear what Willow heard. When Ben finished taking "Drusilla's" pulse he reached for his stethoscope, As he put the stethoscope on Drusilla's chest Willow laid her head on Tara's. Once he finished Ben marked a few things on his clipboard.

"OK, your pulse and heartbeat are in the normal ranges. I'm going to put this gel on your stomach. It may feel cold for a moment." He squirted the gel into his gloved hand before gently rubbing it on the small mound on Drusilla's stomach.

Behind him Willow and Tara clasped hands and muttered "so mote it be." Ending the spell. Once again Ben's eyes came unfocused before refocusing, leaving him none the wiser.

"OK, let's see what we can find." Ben moved the ultrasound around on her stomach while looking on the screen. A blob began to appear on the screen.

"Is that…" Spike asked unable to finish his question.

"Yep, that's your baby." Ben confirmed.

"Wow." Spike said, for once lacking a snarky or sarcastic comment.

Drusilla merely stared at the screen unresponsive. Without noticing Spike reached for her hand and clasped it. At the same time he turned to Buffy, meeting her eyes his face unreadable.

"Well the CRL or Crown Rump Length is about 5 ½ centimeters. That puts her at about twelve weeks along. Does that sound right?"

"Um, what? Yes that's about right." Spike said tearing his eyes away from Buffy back to the intern.

"Yeah, I know it's overwhelming when you can see them this clear. Everything looks healthy. From what I can see Mr. Pratt your baby is healthy as can be expected. Do you have any questions? I can print these pictures if you'd like."

Spike nodded without saying anything his gaze now fixated on the screen.

"What prenatal care should she be getting?" Joyce spoke up. "My niece just moved in with us and it's been a long time sense I was pregnant."

"Well your niece is entering her third month of pregnancy, you should arrange a monthly check up with a doctor. I can give you some names if you'd like. They'll check for things like the top of the uterus, hemoglobin and hematocrit. They'll take a urinalysis test for infection and other things, weigh your niece check her blood pressure. You may be even able to hear a heartbeat. They'll also talk about any other test's they think you might need to take." Ben explained.

"What about vitamins?" Joyce asked.

"Your doctor can tell you better than I can." Ben said, "But as it is her pregnancy seems healthy normal prenatal vitamins should be fine."

The group asked a few more questions about the pregnancy before leaving. Before she walked Ben touched Buffy's wrist and stopped her.

"So coffee?" He asked hopefully.

She smiled, "Coffee." She agreed.

"Tuesday?" He asked.

"Mmhmm, Thursday," She countered, "Three o' clock?"

"Make it two." He said.

"OK, hard bargain but I think I can do it." Buffy said. She didn't have any afternoon classes and Spike could stay with Drusilla. It would be good for her to get out with someone new. Get Spike out of her head and the last bit of Riley out of her heart.

"Thursday at two than, the little coffee shop down town?"

"I'll see you there." She replied.

Buffy hurried back out into the hall and caught up with her friends. Willow and Tara both gave her significant looks and she avoided meeting Spikes loaded gaze.

Yeah, she convinced herself, this will be fun. It'll be good for me to get out a bit more.

Ben walked into the hospital bathroom to wash his hands. Suddenly he gripped the sink, his knuckles turning white under the pressure.

"NO! not now." he said. His hands elongated into thin feminine hands with the nails painted blood red. A musical laugh filled the men's bathroom.

"It's good to be back." The now female voice said.

**I titted now you tat :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**a/n the trouble with writing two stories at once is sometimes you start working on a new chapter for one than forget which one your working on and than start writing the chapter for the other. well thats what happened here. I meant to write for One Last Chance and popped out another chapter for This is Reality. So here it is. Sooner than I thought it would be but thats no reason not to review. So Read, Review and Enjoy**

Chapter Fifteen

"Well it's obvious that her pregnancy is highly accelerated." The gang convened once again at the Summer's home to discuss the news from the ultrasound.

"But what's that mean Watcher?" Spike asked as he came down the stairs from brining Drusilla a cup of blood. Xander closely followed him having just finished the final touches on the security system for the guest bedroom.

"It means exactly how it sounds. Her pregnancy is devolping much faster than normal. I can not say it's a complete surprise either." Giles replied.

"Why not?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Well my theory is it's because she's a vampire. Her accelerated healing, much like yours, I believe is causing her body to accelerate the pregnancy. If you were to become pregnant Buffy I expect the same thing to happen. Of course we don't know how pregnancy would affect a Slayer. No slayer that we know of has ever been pregnant." Giles started to say more.

"Whoa, whoa whoa. Stop right there Giles." Buffy cut him off, "I'm not pregnant now nor shall I be anytime in the near future. What I want to know is what this means for Dursilla."

"Keep a close eye on her. We should go to a doctor like that intern said, confirm that she is three months along. I have no reason to doubt that he is right though. If her pregnancy continues at this rate, about one month normal pregnancy equals for Drusilla about three months."

"So your saying the baby will be born in two months than?" Joyce asked looking slightly overwhelmed.

"What I'm saying is that's my best guess." Giles said slightly frustrated.

"Giles, I'm sorry watcher man but that's not good enough." Xander said. "Do we at least have anything new on Glory? The baby and her are connected. Willow?"

The red headed witch held up her hands in a defeated gesture. "I can't find anything. No prophesy no incantation not even an obscure legend about anything like her. There's nothing.

"Nothing isn't good enough." Anya burst out, "Like Xander said. Normally when something like happens I run the other direction, in fact although I now consider you all friends if it wasn't for the great sex and relationship I have I would be going the other direction. I was a vengeance demon for a long time; I've seen some really bad things go down. We need information."

"Well I don't see you helping at all." Willow snapped back.

"Guys, calm down a minute." Buffy cut across Anya's angry reply.

Buffy looked around at the frustrated faces of her family. Joyce understood but at the same time resented being thrown out of her home. Giles hated having a puzzle he couldn't solve and the stress from trying to find Glory and figure out the monk plus the vampire baby they were expecting was stretching the research abilities of both him and Willow. Xander usually glued the group together but even he seemed a little off lately. Buffy knew that he and Anya were fighting but she didn't know why. Spike and herself were on twenty four seven crazy vampire lets make sure she doesn't kill anyone monitoring. Everyone needed a break. She and Spike couldn't really take one- whole crazy vampire who might kill them in their sleep thing- but she could give everyone else a short break.

"Guys, guys calm down." She repeated. "Go home. Take the night off. Mom, Giles head back to Giles's place. Watch a movie, and no funny business. You can't blame it on the candy this time. Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara you guys to go home. Tomorrow's Saturday, take it off go have some fun. Spike and I can hold down the fort here. We'll talk Monday after school."

Giles started to protest.

"Go." Buffy cut him off, "Not just for your sakes but guys I need a break from it to. Keeping crazy prego vampire under control plus the other stress makes a not happy Buffy. I mean look at these bags I have under my eyes. That alone says I need a break. So out everyone out. Forget about this for the weekend. We'll meet back here Monday."

After a few more half hearted muttered grumbles the gang slowly dispersed to their respective homes. Once the house cleared Buffy moved into the kitchen hoping a cup of tea would drive away her headache. She put the kettle on the stove while cursing Giles in her mind for getting her addicted to tea.

"You know putting a shot of whiskey into your tea will get rid of your headache luv."

Buffy looked up shocked. She thought Spike had gone upstairs when the rest had left. Apparently he didn't as he was now in his usual spot, leaning against the door way.

"I don't have a headache." She denied.

"If you don't have a headache why are there several pills laying next to your cup and why do you keep rubbin your neck pet?" He asked.

Buffy quickly swiped the pills off the table and into her hand. She glared at the vampire. "Fine so I have a bit of a headache but that doesn't mean I'm adding any alcohol to my tea. You weren't around the last time I did something like that. The results were not pretty."

"What 'appened? Did you dance on a table or something?" Spike asked.

"More like I turned into a caveman." She said trying to keep a straight face.

"Ah I see." Spike said managing, barely, not to crack a smile.

The tea kettle choose just then to whistle. The sharp noise caused the monster in Buffy's head to rear and she winced in pain as the headache attacked her skull again. Spike noticed this and went to move the kettle off the hot surface. He poured the boiling water into her mug and added the tea bag plus a spoon of sugar. She smiled gratefully at him as she accepted the cup. He took down a second cup and poured to fingers of amber liquid from his flask into the glass.

"So coffee," he started breaking the comfortable silence. He let the words hang in the air waiting for her response.

"Yes, coffee." She said, knowing he referred to her get together with the cute intern, "Can you be here to keep an eye on Drusilla on your own?"

"Yeah I reckon I can." They slowly drifted back into silence.

"He's normal. I need a little bit of that right now." Buffy said, answering the unasked question that hung in the air. "I mean I have two vampires living with me, my mom asks how many demons did you kill tonight when I get home instead of yelling at me for breaking curfew, my father like figure person researches said demons so I hopefully don't get myself killed, my best friend is a very gay very strong witch who dated a werewolf is now dating an equally gay/strong witch herself, my other best friend is blessedly seemingly normal but is dating a thousand year old ex vengeance demon plus he helped stop the world from ending more than once. My ex's are a top secret government anti demon special ops guy and a souled vampire. I really need at least one normal thing in my life. Plus I have a crazy dead monk in my head who keeps giving messages that are all sorts of cryptic."

"I get it pet, I'd want it to if I were you." Spike replied standing up and moving around the counter, "But one day you're going to admit you need a little bad in your man." He took a step toward her, backing her against the counter, "A little part of you looks for it, craves it. One day you're going to realize you're not normal, you never will be and you'll never want to be. And when that day comes Slayer," he now had her pressed against the counter completely invading her personal bubble, "well, you'll know where to find me."

He then backed off going back to his side of the island and back to sipping his brandy. He wouldn't press her until she was ready. His soul wouldn't let him think about only hiself, but that didn't mean he wouldn't let her know he was there and he was waiting. That he still wanted her. Having a soul gave him a Jimmeny Cricket standing on his shoulder, it didn't take away his personality. The monk through his dreams helped him start to come to terms with his past. He still saw a parade of his victims, dancing one by one across his head whenever he closed his eyes but he knew that he couldn't change what he did. He could only hope to make the future better. He looked again at the slayer seeing her a little shaken up. Good he thought, big bad is back.

**ok now what you want to do is review its that little button down there. click it. I double dog dare you to!**


	16. Chapter 16

**a/n So... it's my birthday today. or at least at my time its my birthday. so everyone should comment on my story :) Read and Review!**

Chapter Sixteen

Early Thursday afternoon Buffy hurried around the house. Her date was in a half an hour and she still couldn't find the shirt she wanted to wear. She used a towel to wrap her top half she ran down to the basement laundry room to check the dryer. She dug through the dryer trying to find that light blue sweater she wanted to wear. Ever sense Spike _insisted _on doing laundry this past week to help out a significant number of her cloths seemed to disappear. She usually could find them folded in the wrong pile later so she didn't mind too much but she really wanted this shirt.

Giving an ugh of frustration she raced back up the stairs to check her closet one last time. Coming through the kitchen she ran head long into the source of her frustration. Gasping in shock she dropped the towel only to have it pool at her feet. Buffy glared as Spike looked down appreciatively at her pale pink bra. She quickly gathered the towel and re-wrapped herself.

"What did you do with my blue sweater?" She demanded annoyed.

"What sweater?" Spike asked smirking as he remembered the lacey bra the slayer wore, not practical at all for someone who fought demons. Which if he thought about it she probably wore it just to be stubborn.

"My blue boat neck sweater. It was in the laundry and you did laundry this week." Buffy remembered just in time not to throw her hands up to show the exasperation she felt.

Spike thought for a moment. Yes he had done laundry last week but did she really think he could remember each thing he sorted and threw in the wash? By the look she was giving him she not only expected that but was pissed he didn't.

"Did you check the basket I put in your room?" he asked.

"Of course I checked the bas…" Buffy exploded, "Wait what basket?"

"I set a basket of laundry on the foot of your bed last time I did it." Spike answered carefully.

Buffy rushed up stairs to find the basket where Spike said it would be. She dug through it quickly and located her shirt. Pulling it on over her head she threw on her makeup and pulled her hair into a pony praying that it passed for something nice. She thanked whatever higher power that existed for the fact that the café was only a five minute walk from her house.

She ran back down the stairs grabbing her bag and coat before racing out the door. Even in October in California sometimes the fall wind had a bit of a chill to it.

"Have fun." Spike called from the kitchen. Buffy almost paused in the door way before shaking her head and hurrying out the door. Spike and she fell into a symbiotic relationship over the week and a half he stayed with her. Drusilla mostly stayed in her room playing with her dolls much to Buffy's relief. After last week when Spike told her she needed a little demon in her man he kept a careful distance. She sometimes caught him looking at her when they sparred late at night or she cooked herself dinner and he heated up some blood. Whenever she did she got a tiny thrill in her stomach. She often found herself thinking about him while she sat in class. But there was Drusilla in the picture.

They took her to the doctor Monday, a few days after the ultrasound. The doctor confirmed that the pregnancy sat at three months. The female vampire stayed as insane as ever. Buffy now noticed the small bump on Drusilla's stomach. She would have the baby in about two months more or less. Buffy would be glad when the vampire was out of the house. Drusilla just gave Buffy the willy's.

Buffy chastised herself for thinking about Spike while on her way for coffee with Ben. She rationalized that she only thought of Spike because he was in her house twenty four seven. It was nothing more than that.

Buffy hurried into the café relieved to only be a few minutes late. Heading toward the table where Ben sat she greeted him while pulling out the chair. As she seated herself a young waitress came over to ask what she would like to drink. After she placed her order of a small coffee she turned to the handsome man sitting in front of her.

They exchanged the typical pleasantries and started a conversation.

"So Buffy, what do you plan on doing after college." Ben asked after he heard she studied at SCU Sunnydale.

"Umm," Buffy said knowing the answer, well I plan on fighting demons until I maybe get killed or just plain die, would get her locked in the hospitals funny farm, "I'm not sure yet." She decided on the safe answer.

The hour seemed to go by quickly. They lost track of time until Ben's beeper rang calling him back to the hospital. They quickly made plans to meet the next week. Buffy smiled to herself as she walked back home.

When she reached the house she was treated to the unusual site of Spike cooking in the kitchen.

"What the heck Spike?"

Spike looked up from the stove where he was stirring something in a pot. He looked stressed and exasperated. "It's Dru. You know I've heard of food cravings but this one is insane."

"What is it?" Buffy asked. She sniffed the air carefully before she almost threw up in her mouth. The smell that filled the kitchen made the word putrid smell nice.

"Blood, well blood and a few other things. It's making even me sick." Spike grimanced.

Buffy laughed at him as she walked out of the kitchen. As she climbed up the stairs so she could study in her room for a bit she met Drusilla standing at the landing.

"Blood's not enough anymore," she said, "The star wants more. Hungry star."

Buffy tried to take her arm and bring her back to her room when the vampire back handed her violently. Buffy snapped her head back and punched the vampire in the face. The two struggled on the landing, Buffy being careful to avoid the vampire's stomach and upper chest. Buffy was about the hit the vampire a third time when Drusilla started laughing and turned away. She walked back into her room and shut the door which activated the alarm system Xander stalled.

Buffy retreated her steps back down the stairs and into the kitchen, for the second time that day she ran into Spike. He was bringing a bowl of the disgusting smelling stew to Drusilla.

"I hate hormones," She snapped at him as she headed to the school library.


	17. Chapter 17

**a/n hey i know this chapter is very short but I hope you enjoy it. I enjoyed writing it and thought adding another scene or making it longer would just not work. As I've read stories on Fanfiction I've seen several times where authors have asked for prayers or positive thoughts from readers when they are going through a hard time. well I'm doing that now. on my birthday I went to the doctor with mild to moderate ovarian pain that had been occurring for a while now but I hadn't had time to go in. the doctor told me it was most likely an ovarian cyst (great birthday gift) as they could pin point the pain and as a virgin its near impossible for me to have an STD. well Wednesday I am going in to the clinic again to make sure its only a mild ovarian cyst and not ovarian cancer or a severe ovarian cyst (an even better birthday gift). I'm not lying when I say I'm a bit scared as I'm getting to an age where the idea of kids isn't in the distant future its coming up quickly. I really am scared that something will prevent me from that illusive someday when I get to hold my own kid, boy or girl. so I guess what I'm asking is that if your religious, prayers would be epic and if your not positive thoughts are also much loved and needed. Thanks. read and ****review**

Glory stood in her apartment condo surrounded by her minions. The scabby faced creatures stood at the same height as her bust. They offered her dress after dress. She would try one on, admire herself in the three full length mirror before violently ripping it off to throw in the ever growing pile of discards. Finally she settled for a red tube dress that clung to her ample curves. She smiled to herself, if she had to be stuck on this horrid planet she could at least be thankful her figure was more than pleasing to the human males eye.

She looked over her shoulder recalling the male human behind her. She turned and stepped off of the podium and slowly stalked over to him like a cat on the prowl. The man looked to be between twenty and twenty-five years old. His arms were locked above his head by the malice's that hung from the ceiling, his feet kept stationary by the similar chains in the floor. She ran a finger down his cheek sensually forcing him to look at her.

"Who… Who… Who are you?" he asked his voice shaking as his entire body flinched at her touch.

Glory trailed her finger down from his face over his smooth chest. Without warning she brought her other hand up and back handed him across the face leaving a long bloody scratch where her ring struck.

"That's another thing I hate about this stupid planet." She yelled. Her minions cowered behind the couch hoping the blonde woman's rage wouldn't turn on them.

"No one, and I mean NO ONE, has any idea how to treat me!" she continued to rage. "And you humans, dirty, filthy little humans think it's ok to take my key. You humans couldn't use it and even if you could you don't have the guts to. Well do you?" she threw the last words as a challenge to him.

The man shook his head rapidly, praying that would be the right answer.

"I thought not." Moving with lightning speed Glory brought her hand up and slashed her nails across the man's chest. Four long scratches appeared and began to slowly ooze blood. The man screamed as the blood slowly dripped onto the floor.

"Poor humans." Glory said as she once again caressed the side of his face, "so fragile and breakable." With that she plunged her hands into the man's skull and a white light formed around her fingers. After a few minutes she pulled her hands out of his skull. The man slumped forward and began to babble incoherently.

Glory smiled satisfied. She turned to her cowering minions and said "Now, where was I?"

"The spell oh great beautiful and majestic one." A minion said bowing low.

"Ah yes, the spell." Glory replied. She turned to the table across the room. Herbs and other plants and a few nastier looking objects sat on the table top, underneath it sat several cages with various animals in them. Glory started to prepare the ingredients she needed when suddenly she stopped.

"NO! NO! Not now!" She yelled. Her face began to morph, her blonde hair darkened as it shot back into her head, her limbs began to elongate. The transformation finished almost as soon as it began.

A minion stepped forward.

"Welcome back, Master Ben." It vocalized.


	18. Chapter 18

**a/n So I know its been a long long long time and this is a fairly short chapter but forgive me the creative juices are finally re-flowing! As an up-date to my medical stuff, number one priority a huge Thank you and God Bless for all the prayers and good thoughts, secondly it was discovered I have a complex ovarian cyst on my left ovary. It could be one of four things, a non cancerous benign tumor, a dermoid cyst (Google it, its disgusting, thank god its most likely not that), the wall of my uterus growing where it shouldnt or just a blood filled cyst. right now its the size of a plum, so while its three times the size of my ovary its not huge, like say a grapefruit. I have a second ultrasound in five weeks where if its getting bigger I'll have a MRI and depending on what that show's they'll surgically remove it. now please read enjoy and review.**

Chapter 18

Buffy let herself into the house after patrol. Her mother moved back in a few days ago to get ready for her surgery. Drusilla kept getting bigger and bigger and now Spike almost never left the house so he could watch her. In vampire time Drusilla stood at almost seven plus months. The Scoobies found various ways to provide human, cow and pig blood but more and more it didn't seem like it was enough. Three times the crazy vampire tried to sneak out of the house. Once she succeeded, they found her a few hours later in a play ground, looking for children. Giles theorized that the child made her want younger blood more often. The gang did the best they could with the little they had. The original security system had been replaced by a severally advanced lock and key system along with the windows in the bedroom.

Spike now slept on the couch bed they made up every night for him.

_Poor guy,_ Buffy thought. She even went as far as to cancel the weekly date she started keeping with Ben. It just didn't feel right for her to go out when Spike had to stay cooped up in the house all day. However she really liked Ben and their three coffee meetings had been fun.

Entering the house she heard the sound of the TV in the living room. She crept into the dark room illuminated by only the TV. Spike lay asleep on the pull out bed, an afghan thrown lazily across his lap. Buffy couldn't help the slight swell of disappointment in her stomach. Spike normally waited up for her after patrol. Her mother, in preparation for the surgery, had been ordered by the doctor to rest for at least a week so her body could be in the best condition possible. Joyce's surgery was scheduled for tomorrow. Giles offered to drive both her and Joyce to the hospital and stay with Buffy while she waited. The other Scoobies would stop in as their schedules allowed them to, Spike would stay in the house and watch Drusilla.

Buffy crossed the room silently to shut the TV off. She noticed Spike had been watching re-runs of Passions again. She smiled to herself. Most evenings while she studied in her room or went on a patrol Spike and Joyce sat downstairs, watching Passions together. It almost scared Buffy how easily Spike just seemed to fit in her house.

As she quietly flicked the power button to off the sleeping form on the couch startled at sat up.

"Slayer?" Spike's voice rose in the dark room a question mark marked the end of his one worded sentence.

"Yeah Spike it's me. Go back to bed. I just got in, the TV was on." She answered.

The vampire paied no heed to her request. He sat up on the pull out and patted the area of the bed beside her. Tired from her rather crappy night she slumped down beside her and allowed him to run his hands along her back in a gentle soothing massage.

"How was patrol?" he asked as he slowly smoothed the cramps and knots her fights twisted into her back.

"Sucked. Dusted two vamps than a Boretz demon tried to eat the homeless lady who lives over by the Bronze, she's ok but he got away." Buffy said. She hated it when a demon got away from her. She knew that she failed and because of that another person might die.

Spike didn't patronize her with useless sayings like "don't worry you'll get him tomorrow night". Spike was a demon himself, a demon with a soul, but still a demon. He knew even better than Buffy herself that someone else might die tomorrow because of tonight. He gently squeezed her shoulders and continued to rub them.

"How was Dru today?" Buffy asked changing the subject, after school she had gone straight to the Magic Box and from there to patrol.

"Different. Quiet." Spike said lost in thought as he remembered the day. Dru sat and stared over the window covered by a black velvet cloth. She cradled a doll in her hands. Spike would normally sit with her during the day but today when he tried to come in she turned and looked at him and quietly asked him to leave. "I think the baby is changing her, making her fell some of the things she did. Not a soul exactly but something close."

Buffy didn't speak as she processed this new information. She would tell Giles in the morning. Right now Spikes hands slowly traced patterns on her back and for once she wasn't thinking about right or wrong, past or present, or even vampire-slayer. She didn't think about anything. She just let Spikes gentle long fingered hands lull her into a deep sleep.

"_**Joyce," a voice sounded in her head. **_

_**She sat up in bed realizing she was in a dream yet this was not a regular dream. The monk as Buffy and Spike reffered to him as was speaking to her again.**_

"_**What?" She asked. **_

"_**It's almost time. You have to prepare her. She cannot do what she must do without your help. You must prepare the way for her. Take her hand, start her on the path she was born to travel. It is almost time." The voice echoed and bellowed in her head in the tones of a thousand dogs primed for the hunt. Buffy described a small rather drab man who appeared to her in her dreams. Joyce somehow knew there was more to the monk than that. Her best guess was he appeared to Buffy in a form that she would most easily accept. She had yet to decide if he did this to her also.**_

"_**Tell me, tell me now, will my daughter be happy? Will she be ok?" She demanded standing in her bedroom. **_

"_**If she accepts what's in front of her she will. I cannot any more than you can tell the future. It's not set in stone, it changes every day. In the end she will decide her future this time as she did the last."**_

"_**Ok, I am ready." Joyce said, acceptance in her voice.**_

Once again Joyce sat up in her bedroom, this time in the real world not a dream world. She knew she wouldn't be falling back asleep. She sat down at the desk she kept in her bedroom to pay bills and keep her records straight. She took a sheet of paper out and began to write.

An hour later Joyce set down her pen. She reread what she had written, carefully put the letter in an envelope and set it in the top left hand drawer. After locking the drawer back up she carefully crept down the stairs and to the basement. She walked over the shelves on the far back wall and began to take down boxes one by one.

**review time! press the little button down there!**


	19. Chapter 19

**a/n another rather short chapter i know but work and school and a mild case of strep throat/head cold/I honestly don't really know what tried to kick my ass this weekend so forgive me and read and review please!**

Chapter Nineteen

Buffy awoke once again to find herself draped next to Spike's sleeping form. She carefully lifted her body up and off of the pull out couch before pausing to identify what had awakened her in the first place. Straining against the silence that filled the house she heard the subtle _thump_ of boxes being placed on the ground. Making her way through the kitchen she discovered the basement door cracked open and a faint pie piece of light illuminating a sliver of the shinning counter tops. She eased the door open before silently moving down the steps a stake ready in her hand. She saw a figure hunched over some of the old boxes that lined the far wall. As her foot hit the last step emanating a soft _creak_ into the still air the figure startled and whirled to face Buffy.

"Dear Lord! Buffy, you startled me!" Joyce Summers declared as her hand flew to her chest to protect her racing heart rate.

"Mom? What are you doing down here, its," Buffy paused to look at her watch, "past two in the morning. You're supposed to be resting, you have _surgery _tomorrow."

"I know, I couldn't sleep. So I started to go through some of the old things down here." Joyce replied turning back to the box she was going through.

"What are you looking for?" Buffy asked her mother, debating the possible outcomes of trying to force her mother back to bed. She decided against that option and let her curiosity get the better of her.

"Your old baby cloths. Your dad and I always thought we'd have another baby and I saved most of your stuff just in case. After it became obvious I couldn't have another baby, and then there was the divorce, well I guess the old cloths were to sentimental to just throw out by then. I sorted out most of the extremely girly stuff years ago. I thought I could give them to Spike's baby." Joyce explained. Buffy noticed for the first time she never referred to the baby as Drusilla's, the baby was always Spike's; as if Drusilla was nothing more than a surrogate mother.

"Really? You kept it all?" Buffy asked, kneeling beside her mother to help with the search. Together they pulled out long forgotten photo frames, school projects carefully made and then given to either Hank or Joyce. The mother and daughter paused for several sad moments at a photo of a young Buffy sitting joyfully on Hank's knee as he propped a story book in one hand, the other protecting her so she wouldn't fall.

"He didn't leave because of you." Joyce said as Buffy set the photo aside. She turned to look at her mother with a mixture of confusion and child like hope written across her face.

"Your father could never deal with difficulties. If things got hard he ran away. We were arguing long before you became the Slayer. He used it as an excuse to argue more, but the truth is Buffy your father was and is a coward."

Buffy nodded dumbly intrigued by this new look on her father. She hated him before, accepted and denied his betrayal to her and her mom. Than as time went on she slowly became accustomed to his absence from her family. Giles seemed more like a father than her own blood dad ever had been. She had looked at her real father as a dead beat, a runaway, a man with a midlife complex who liked to sleep with his secretary but never as a coward who just couldn't deal with the normal life issues of being a married man. She wasn't sure how this correlated with her vision with her dad. Not wanting to consider that she mutely nodded and continued looking through the box.

After about ten minutes they stumbled upon the box filled with old baby cloths, onsies, night cloths and other odds and ends. They sorted the cloths into two piles, a just girl cloths pile and a unisex pile.

"We should throw Spike a baby shower." Joyce said breaking the silence.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"A shower, with the rest of the Scoobies. He would be able to get some things for the baby."

Buffy thought about what her mother said and nodded silently. The whole situation was confusing for her and waking up not once but twice next to Spike didn't help at all.

"Buffy," Joyce said seriously, "have you thought about what's going to happen to Drusilla once the baby is born? She can't be a mother."

"I don't know Mom. I have no idea." Buffy replied, "You're right. She can't stay. I guess it depends on what Spike and the baby do."

"I think they should stay here. For sure until you get rid of Glory." Joyce said.

Buffy again nodded. There was nothing else they could do until they defeated Glory. A vampire and a slayer was twice the protection for the baby. Joyce saw her daughters mind wandering off into area's unknown to her.

"Buffy, listen to me." Joyce said seriously, going partly on instinct and partly on what the monk told her, "That baby is going to be human. She or he might be a little bit special, not so different than you, once he or she gets older. But for the first months of its life it's going to be in near constant danger. You're going to be the closest thing that baby has to a mom for that time. That baby is going to need you and so is Spike. I might not always be here." At that Buffy looked up at her mother concerned. "I don't mean I'm going to die Buffy" Joyce explained, "But I'd be a liability in this house for awhile, as long as Glory is around and we both know it. After my surgery and after the baby is born I'll move back to Mr. Giles house. You're going to have to stand on your own Buffy. I'll help all I can but in the end you have to rely on yourself. I know you can do it."

Buffy listened closely to her mother, turning her words over and over to make sense of them. After several minutes of silence Buffy reached over and hugged her mom.

"I know, thanks Mom." She said. Both women turned back to the boxes and began packing up what they didn't need and setting aside what they did need.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/n SHE'S ALIVE! Yes I know its shocking but I am alive. To explain my absense its very easy. last week I worked fifty hours plus I'm a full time student. With a six page paper that needs to be written in academic ****Spanish. Can I get a YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEE HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA of excitement? In good news I registered for my next year classes and signed up for my ROTC and met another female cadet who is already in the program who may be my mentor. so i'm like major excited. :) we even share the same major and if i sound like a rambling dork its because its two am and i'm hyper as heck so enjoy and please review even its just to yell at me about my ten day hiatus.**

Chapter 20

The next morning Joyce and Buffy rose as late as possible after their exploration of the basement. Joyce showered quickly pressing any unease about her surgery to the bottom of her stomach. The doctor said they shouldn't have to shave part of her head but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous about the possibility. Hell the possibility of surgery scared her.

Going downstairs Joyce discovered Buffy and Spike sitting in the kitchen. Spike perched on a kitchen stool around the island, his normal seat, and Buffy bustled around the stove trying to make pancakes quickly. She also had orange juice sitting on the island and bacon on the back burner. Spike just sat and sipped out of a opaque mug that Joyce assumed was blood.

"Hey Mom, we should eat quick. Giles is coming by in about a half hour to bring us to the hospital." Buffy said trying to sound chipper. Joyce wasn't fooled.

"Buffy, it's going to be ok." She said reassuringly.

"I know Mom, why wouldn't it? Cutting in to someone's head never means something is wrong." Buffy replied more than a bit sarcastically.

"Buffy." Joyce sighed, she liked Spike, even when he was evil she liked him, but his sarcasm started to rub off on her daughter.

"Sorry Mom." Buffy said as she slid a pancake on to her mom's plate. She offered some to Spike who just shook his head and held up his cup of blood.

"What are your plans today?" Joyce asked Spike trying to steer the topic away from her surgery.

"Oh play dolls with my insane pregnant ex girl friend who's child may or may not be what defeats an evil bitch we know nothing about." Spike said with the same sarcasm Buffy used herself a few minutes before, "and just to make it fun I'm going to make sure she doesn't try to kill anyone."

Joyce rewarded his sarcasm with a quiet "mom glare" to which he had the decency to look a bit sheepish about it.

"Sorry Mrs. Summers, must be the stress." He lamely excused himself. Joyce just smiled knowingly. Becoming a parent in normal circumstances left much to be desired.

A knock on the door interrupted the slight tension in the Summers' kitchen. Joyce got up from her pancakes and went to the foyer.

"Hello Rupert," She said once she opened the door. "How are you this morning."

"Very well thank you Joyce. Are you and Buffy ready?" Giles responded.

"Yes, I think we are." Joyce turned over her shoulder to call out to her daughter, "Buffy, Mr. Giles is here. It's time to go."

Buffy hurried into the foyer followed by Spike. She reached the door before turning around abruptly, almost crashing into the blonde vampire behind her.

"One second Mom, I forgot my purse upstairs."

Joyce nodded and went to follow Giles outside and to his car. Spike turned to follow the Slayer to her room. He found her all but freaking out in her room, clutching her small black bag to her chest.

"Hey, hey calm down, it's ok." He said to comfort her.

"I know it's going to be ok, I just really, really hate hospitals and doctors and well the smell." Buffy scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Go," Spike said, "Be with your mum she needs you."

"Thanks Spike." Buffy said before she walked back down stairs, out the door and to the car.

The drive to the hospital was quick and silent. No one really knew what to say to the other persons in the car. Arriving at the hospital Giles went to find space in the family waiting room leaving Buffy to help check her mom in. Joyce was than prepped for surgery and given a bed to wait in. Mother and daughter say in awkward silence for almost ten minutes waiting for a doctor.

Finally Dr. Shelby came into the room. "How are we feeling today Mrs. Summers?"

"A little nervous." Joyce answered.

"Well that's normal." Doctor Shelby muttered as she glanced over Joyce's medical chart. "Well, everything seems in order here. It shouldn't take too much longer. We're just prepping the op room now." Dr. Shelby smiled kindly at the small family before leaving the room.

The two laspsed back into silence. After another ten or so minutes Joyce spoke up.

"Buffy, remember what we talked about? Last night, in the basement."

"Yeah Mom, I remember. You told me about Dad and some other stuff." Buffy replied, she didn't want to mention the part where her mom said she'd have to step into a mom type position.

"Well I mean all of it. And I want you to know Buffy that I know you can do it. I'm so proud of who you've become, and I'm sorry I didn't understand at first. I'm sorry that I tried to stop you. What you do is dangerous and it scared me. I saw myself losing my baby girl. After all you were all I had left after you father left us. So I tried to stop you, hold you back, I wanted to keep my baby girl. I was wrong Buffy. You're a strong women. You care for your friends and you protect them. You're doing something good whit the hand life decided to deal you. I couldn't be prouder."

Buffy swallowed around the lump that had formed in her throat. She started to try to speak, say something with her mom. She almost knew what she wanted to say, almost said it, but than a team of nurses and doctors came into the room to take Joyce to surgery. Joyce took her daughters hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Buffy watched as her mother was wheeled off into surgery.

Walking back down the hallway Buffy found the waiting room Giles sat in. Sitting beside her mentor she laid her head on his shoulder for some more silent reassurances. She hated to admit it but she needed all the reassurance she could get, Spike, her mom and her Watcher.

The doctor told her the surgery would take several hours. After hour one Buffy's nerves had her crawling up the proverbial walls. By hour two she couldn't sit still. Leaving the waiting room she went to go find a vending machine in hopes a few munchies would cure or at least dull her restlessness.

Buffy wandered without paying much attention to where she was going. She only noticed she reached the psyc ward when she heard her name called out in a familiar voice.

"Hey Buffy," she turned to find Ben struggling with a man on a stretcher, "Why are you here? Is your mom ok?"

"She's in surgery right now. I was going a little crazy and went for a walk. Ended up here. Maybe the universe is trying to send me a not so subtle message."

Ben laughed as he continued to struggle with the man on the stretcher. "One sec Buffy." He turned over his shoulder to call to a second orderly, "Hey man, go get me a couple of the big male nurses."

Buffy walked over to the gurney and put her hand on the man's shoulder and pushed down hard. Ben looked at her in shock as she held the man down. "Never mind what I just said." He called back to the orderly.

"You got some wicked muscle for a girl," he commented as he strapped the man down to the stretcher, "Wait, that sounded sexist, I didn't mean it sexist."

Buffy smiled at him, "no it's totally fine," she replied. She looked around the ward. Almost every bed was taken and several patients sat muttering to themselves in chairs.

"Bit busier than usual?" she asked.

"Yeah we are. In the past couple of months have been crazy. I'm only on psyc rotation for this week. I don't know its seemed like someone came and stole peoples minds and left crazy people in their place." Ben said struggling with the final strap. "I'll be glad when my week here is done."

Buffy drowned out Ben's last words. Memories flashed across her mind. The monk before and after whatever Glory did and than in the dreams. She thought of what Spike had told her about the monk. The insane ramblings. Going on a hunch she tuned back in to hear what the man on the stretcher said.

"She's coming. The Glorious Beast is coming. We must prepare."

"Ben, I have to go. I'm sorry but it's important." Buffy cut Ben off midsentence. Without waiting to explain herself she turned on her heel and walked as quickly as she could back to the waiting room. They finally had another piece of the puzzle.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/n i am alive i promise. school plus work plus life shit has been kicking my hind end lately plus i've been working on some of my original stuff to and the plots in my head wont shut up. I have a confession for those who follow my stories... this up date trend will most likely continue untill i'm done with finals. i'll try to update as often as possible and which story gets updated the most depends on reviews and my muse who is a little bitch. so please be pacient and review lots. now enjoy chapter 21!**

Chapter 21

"Giles I'm telling you its Glory. It the only thing that makes sense!"

Back in the hospital waiting room Buffy paced the floor with pent up frustration.

"I'm not saying it doesn't Buffy, it makes a remarkable amount of sense. I'm merely stating we have to be careful. We still don't know who or what Glory is." The older English man responded.

Giving a huff of worried frustration Buffy flung herself down ignoring the slightly painful jar of the hard plastic chair colliding with her hips. Any bruise would disappear by the next day anyway.

"Buffy, I know you're frustrated right now but this is a break though." Her mentor placed an arm on her shoulder in comfort, Buffy leaned into it needing that comfort.

It made perfect sense. Glory, who ever, what ever she was, somehow stole the sanity of others. Buffy remembered how the monk acted after Glory put her hands in her head. It seemed that the beautiful, cruel blonde could only keep her own sanity that way.

Buffy huffed once again huffed in frustration. She couldn't think about this anymore not right now, right now her only focus should be her mother who was still in surgery. Buffy looked down once again at her watch, only another hour, maybe two left of the surgery. Unable to sit still Buffy stood to start pacing once again.

An hour and a half later Joyce Summers was wheeled from the operating room to the recovery room. Another hour after that Buffy and Giles were allowed to go see her. Joyce was placed in a single room asleep in the hospital bed with an IV running from her arm and monitors hooked up, the machines beeping quietly.

Buffy lowered herself, again, into another one of the abundant large plastic chairs. The nurses told her that it could be up to five hours before her mother woke up. Buffy scooted the chair as close as she could to her mother's sleeping form and laid her head down on the mattress. She slowly began to nod off into sleep.

Giles paced back and forth outside of Joyce's room. He didn't want Buffy to know how truly worried he was not only about Joyce but about the information Buffy brought to him earlier. Before he could ignore the fact that the Council retained more books and information than his own personal collection, Glory hadn't seriously hurt anyone yet. If what Buffy deduced was true than soon he'd have no more choice in the matter, he'd have to ask the Watchers council for help. It wasn't a predicament he liked to be placed in. On the other hand if they could figure out how to use this information to their advantage they'd finally have a weapon that might do some damage to Glory. Now their biggest problem still was what or who Glory is.

Giles stopped into Joyce's room to tell Buffy he had to run to the Magic Shop quick. Finding her asleep he couldn't bring himself to wake the tired slayer he quick left her a note and set it beside her. He hurried back to the store to call Willow and Anya. Hopefully the three of them could find an answer with out involving the council. Maybe just maybe they could win this thing and still come out on top. Maybe.

In twenty minutes the Scoobies minus Spike and Buffy are convened at the Magic shop. Giles tells them the new information he's found and delegates the various research tasks. He then hurries back to the hospital hoping to arrive before he's missed.

He finds Buffy in the same position he left her in. Passed out from stress and lack of sleep. She's grown up this last six months than Giles has ever seen before. He knew part of that was from what Dracula had told her. That a part of her power was dark. Giles also knew her greatest fear was becoming one of the things she hated and after seeing how easily Faith had fallen that she feared the same ending. He also knew her. That as much as she feared it she wouldn't let it happen.

Giles went out side the room to find a nurse and check on Joyce's condition and arrange for a cot to be brought into the room. The hard plastic chairs were not suitable for sleeping in. He then went down to the hospital cafeteria to bring Buffy a roll and some coffee, after all he was her watcher and this is what watchers did. They watched and guided and made sure their slayers didn't kill themselves by being so stressed they didn't eat. It was all in the handbook.

"Thanks Giles," Buffy told him when she woke up enough to take the coffee and the roll. After an hour of talking about nothing in particular and dancing around the subject of Glory Buffy managed to convince her watcher that she was fine and to go home to his own bed. She settles down in the cot she dragged next to her mothers bed and prepares herself for a long night.

Under the cover of darkness a tall lonely figure trudges up a hill in the Sunnydale woods. He lights a lone candle in the dark pausing for a moment before beginning an old archaic chant. The power of the words viberates through the forest causing the more sensitive animals to flee. He chants the verse not one but seven times. At the last words the candle flares up before blowing black. The man waits for a moment looking up at the sky, the hood of his cloak falling back. After a moment a meteor shoots across the sky and the man smiles, satisfied.

A smaller, rather deformed figure detaches itself from the camaflouge the tree's offered and walks up to the man.

"What do you hope to accomplish?" It asks, its voice feminine but its face gender neutral, a pale tan covered in darker brown scabs with wire brown hairs growing form the skull.

The man turned to look at it/she/he and smiled a angry thin lipped smile.

"I'm cleaning up after Glory. Like I always clean up after Glory." He replied the bitter note obvious in his voice. The figure nods silently as the two begin their walk away from the hill.

Across the city a creature makes its way through the night. Staying in the shadows, melting into the darkness. It knows its purpose and it intends to fulfill it.


	22. Chapter 22

** a/n hey guys did anyone else watch Glee tonight? I loved it! so here's the next chapter. i switched up how the demon issue came about because i wanted it finished in a minimum of two chapters. now its official. its going to take two chapters. and exciting news. drum roll please... that moment you've all been waiting for. well i have no idea if you've been waiting for it or not buy anyway the baby (Dru's baby) will be born sometime in the next five chapters. for sure before chpt thirty, possibly by chapter 25. so i already have it pretty well planned out how its going to happen. for once i even kinda worked on the chapter a head of time but i'd love to hear your ideas. see if you have any better than mine. if i use yours i'll give credit. if you repeat mine i'll pm you to let you know before hand depending on what i do so let me know your thoughts and ideas. please review. its my crack it keeps me going while studying. **

Chapter 22

Buffy slept peacefully on the cot in her mother's room. The nurses coming in and out woke her briefly but other than that she slept soundly. Her mother had woken up for an hour earlier and now slept in a pain medication induced haze. The gentle beeps and blips of the monitors long ago became nothing other than accustomed background noise. The hospital was peaceful and silent. A calm masquerade over the tormented emotions and occurrences that took place inside the pale white walls.

Buffy suddenly sat up in the dark hospital room. Her hand clutching for a weapon that wasn't there. It disorientated her more than a little that she didn't even have a stake with her. She wasn't sure what woke her, the night seemed as calm as it had been when she had shut her eyes but something was different. As strange as it seemed something in the air felt different, a smell drifting into the room on a draft, an overused tingle of the spine. She slid out of the cot and let her stocking padded feet fall to the floor. She checked on her mother one last time before slipping silently into the hall.

She allowed her feet to take here where they wanted to go, hoping they knew a bit more than she did herself. Her feet followed the same path they did earlier that day. Or was it yesterday? Buffy wasn't too sure on the time and she mused this fact as she wandered the dim hospital halls. She restlessly walked not knowing exactly what she was looking for.

A sound on her left alerted her into the psyc ward. A slight gasp, a subtle intake of air alerted Buffy that something was up; if she hadn't been paying attention she never would have noticed the sound. She turned and quietly stalked into the room.

A creature stood on top of a girl who was secured down to the bed. She fought as best as she could, trying over and over again to scream but the creature had its own tongue down her throat. Buffy ran up to the girl being attacked. As she ran she took in the rest of the room. Several of the other patients, restrained and drugged into sleep, fought and struggled against their bonds in nightmares.

She arrived at the bed where the girl struggled. She grabbed the creature and threw it off the girl it crashed against the floor. Jumping on it quickly she grabbed the head shaped portion of the creature and twisted its neck violently. She heard the familiar yet sickening crack as the demon fell limp besides her.

She looked down at the now corpse in front of her and sighed. She looked down at the now corpse in front of her and sighed. Sometimes demon corpses decomposed instantly once killed. This one, no such luck. She couldn't leave the corpse in the ward and knew of no easy was to dispose of it. She looked around the ward, searching for ideas. A large laundry hamper in the corner caught her eye. Picking up the corpse she dragged it over to the hamper. She might have to break a few more of the mysterious demons bones but it'd fit. She got the demon in the hamper and covered up. She glanced around the room again. The girl the demon attacked was alive and shaking with fear, but alive. The hospital staff would thing she hullisontated the whole thing. No blood stained any surface of the large room.

Great, Buffy thought, all I have to do now is sneak a demon out in a laundry hamper. How very Annie of me.

Buffy slung the bag over her shoulder and walked over to the windows. The screen over them was too thick to be able to break it silently and the window to small to easily shove the bag outside.

Crap, Buffy thought, how the hell was she supposed to get this damn demon to Giles to figure out what the hell it was and why it was in the hospital. Demons didn't like hospitals. Demons liked dark woods, hidden paths, graveyards or abandoned houses. The more over used in horror flicks the better for the things that go bump in the night. A desperate vampire might go to a hospital, AKA Spike for Drusilla but other than that bright lights and crowded rooms were not your typical demon cup of tea. Or blood. Or any liquid for that matter. This demon was obviously different. Giles would want to study it and Buffy wanted to make sure it wouldn't bring all of its little demon buddies. She really didn't have time to patrol the hospital to. Not with Spike, Drusilla, Glory, the baby and not to mention the fact that the people in the hospital would see her. Her life was already complicated enough, scary hospital roaming demon did not need to be added to that ever.

Buffy glanced fugitively into the hall. She still wasn't the best driver, ok Xander said he'd rather sleep with Angel and Spike at the same time rather than drive with her, so she couldn't use the car. If she had a car. They had ridden with Giles.

Ok, Buffy continued talking to herself; step one, get yourself and demon thingy out of the hospital figure out steps three four and five later. She slung the sack over her shoulder and darted into the halls quickly glancing around her as she went. She managed to make it to the parking lot fairly quickly. Once she was she off hospital property she stopped to figure out what the hell she was going to do next. Spike was out of the question for help, he had to watch Dru who was getting closer and closer to having the baby. Xander was most likely screwing Anya, Willow doing the same with Tara so neither would be answering their phones. And she had no idea where Giles was. Walking down the Sunnydale streets dragging a demon didn't sound like the best idea. She wasn't afraid she'd be caught, most people in Sunnydale had a deep set value against going outside much after dark, but the demon was heavy.

Not knowing what else to do Buffy started walking down the streets, cutting through the yards and cemeteries to get to Giles's faster. When she finally arrived she knocked loudly on his door. He came out looking disheveled in a white tee shirt and plaid sleep pants.

"Buffy, what is going on? It's almost three in the morning?"

"I know. But I gotta demon issue." Giles had yet to see the laundry bag or its contents.

"Where?" He asked couriously.

"Right here." She held up the bag containing the corpse.

"Really? What kind of demon is it. dissecting one would be priceless to our knowlage on how it's body works."

"Giles, stop the babble mouth," Buffy cut in, "I don't know what kind of demon it is, that's why I brought it here. It was in the hospital. I need to know what this is and I need to know now."

"The hospital you say, but demons rarely, if ever, go places that crowded." Giles said confused.

"I know this Giles. That's why I need to know soon. It was in the psyc ward. Attacking one of the girls. It caused everyone in the place to go a little nutsyer."

"I'll see what I can do. I just read a report of a single meter falling around the Sunnydale woods but no rock being found. I assumed it was a hoax but I'll take Xander out to the woods tomorrow to see what we can find"

"Thanks Giles. I gotta get back to Mom. I'll swing by tomorrow."

"Oh no Buffy. I'll come to you. Your mother needs you. Slaying can take the back burner for now."

"Sure," Buffy said, "It takes my mom having a tumor to get you to cut me a break. Thanks for the tip." Giles smiled a bit at this. "See you Giles." She said as she turned to walk back to the hospital.

"See you." Giles responded before dragging the demon corpse into his house. He ran his hand through his hair and pushed his glasses up his nose. He knew he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep tonight.

**tits and tats my friend**

**ps. I am also working on my first full length novel. i've been published (In a real book) with some of my short stories and am now tackling a bigger project. my thing is i need blunt feed back. so if you're interested please PM me and i'll send you via PM the first chapter and you can please tell me what you think. after all publishing companies only read like the first few pages before sorting them into the little good pile and the big reject pile. so please help me on my creative project. ok ending me promoting me**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/n so this was done yesterday and i was going to post it... but i ended up having to take care of my sick little sister cuz my parents were at work and guess what guess what guess what... I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL AND FINALS! Which is awesome but it also means you get stuck with the stay up with sick kid and give her cough medicine and tuck her back in and all that fun stuff. anywho my plan for updating is to _TRY_ to update each of my stories every three to four days. like i said this is a goal. so read review and enjoy**

Chapter 23

Giles stared at the demon corpse at his feet. Cleaning his glasses yet another time he left the corpse in the entryway and walked to the phone hanging against the wall. He dialed a very familiar number.

"Willow, it's Giles, sorry to wake you."

"Oh no it's ok. I wasn't sleeping. I was, ummm, I wasn't sleeping." A breathless Willow answered.

Back in the dorms said breathless Willow sat up in bed grabbing the sheet to cover her naked to half. She smiled apologetically over at Tara over her shoulder.

"What?" she asked her attention snapped back to the conversation on the phone.

"A demon? Full bodied?" she asked excitedly.

Back in Giles' home he smiled into the phone. At least someone shared his excitement about dead non decomposed human corpses.

"Yes. Now we have to find out what this is for Buffy. She has enough on her plate right now. Can you come over? And maybe bring some of those horrendous plastic table cloths we used over Thanksgiving. I don't want anymore demon blood stains in my house."

"Sure thing Giles." Willow answered, "Just let me grab some, ummm, I'll be right over."

Willow quickly pulled a skirt and loose top on and ran a brush through her hair. Tara propped herself up on an elbow.

"Want me to come with?" She asked.

"No, its fine you can stay and sleep. You have a test tomorrow don't you?"

Tara nodded and snuggled deep under the blankets before drifting back off to sleep. Willow kissed her quickly before snagging her shoes and her bag before running out the door. She hurried the several blocks to Giles place keeping a hand on the stake in her purse. She was no slayer and couldn't do much if something attacked her but she felt better having some sort of weapon. Although if she thought about it her magic was getting stronger. She might be able to impale a vamp on a tree branch with her magic now.

After a brisk fifteen minute walk Willow knocked forcefully on the apartment door. Giles opened it still clad in his pajamas.

"Ah Willow good. Did you bring the supplies?" he asked.

"Yep got it right here." The witch said as she entered the house.

"Good. I have the dining table cleared off we can set the table cloths down and put it there. I'll go grab the demon so we can get started."

As Willow finished laying the plastic cloths down Giles came into the room dragging in a cloths sack. He grunted as he dragged the sack over the threshold.

"Oh here," Willow said. She raised her hand over the sack mentally commanding it to rise. She floated the sack from the floor and on to the table. The witch smiled to herself she had come a long way from floating nothing bigger than a pencil.

"Ready?" She asked Giles.

"Yes." The watcher replied. Willow reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of scaples she had stolen from the high school science lab her senior year, two large flowery aprons and two pairs of kitchen gloves. They covered more area than medical gloves. Demons tended to squirt goo more than one might expect.

The demon had humanoid structure, legs, arms, front, back, head and all of the other usual good stuff. However, the demon didn't look like most of the others the group had encountered. Willow took several pictures of the body from multiply angles. This wasn't the first autopsy of a demon the pair had done. They had autopsied several demons Buffy killed. As Giles always told them the more they knew themselves the less of a chance they would ever have to call the council.

Willow grabbed one of several glass vials from her bag. Creating a small slit in the demons wrist area she let the thick green goo drip into the vial. After filling it she sealed the vile to keep as a sample and filled a second vile as a backup. She then took a glass microscope slide and let a last drop of blood slide on to the clear slide before putting the plastic film over to seal it.

Willow walked over from body to the desk where a high powered microscope sat. Giles set up mop buckets on each side of the demon to made sure the last bit of blood from the upper extremities out of the body before they started cutting into the sternum.

"Giles, come look at this." Willow called.

"What is it?" he asked as he came over.

"The blood. It's different. Most demonic bloods have some trace of sulfur or some other common element. This has nothing. No human elements or any of the common demon ones. I'll take some to put in the Mass Spec at school tomorrow but there's nothing. No hemoglobin, nothing. It's weird." Willow sat back stumped. She didn't like the feeling.

"Well it is peculiar but I'm sure there is a logical answer. Well let's cut him open. See if there are any other abnormalities."

Willow nodded her agreement. Putting on a pair of goggles in case anything decided to spray out as she cut (it wouldn't be the first time). They positioned the corpse better on the table and began to slowly cut a Y incision over the clavicle area and down the chest. Giles than reached into the chest cavity and tried to jerk the rib like structures back as he had done on other demons. Instead of the slightly sickening crack the watcher and watcher in training type normally heard a dull metallically sounding thunk came from the body. The pair looked at each other in confusion. Taking one of the scalpels Giles carefully peeled the flesh away from the rib structure. A silver metal like material poked through the silver bluish hue of the hard skin. Willow took the scalpel and hit the bone shaped material as if she was ringing a gong. The metal bounced off with a dull ring.

"Have you ever seen something like this?" Willow asked Giles. The watcher shook his head slowly. The rest of the night was spent taking turns between researching old books and examining the body. Finally as Dawn was almost breaking Giles turned to Willow.

"I am unable to find any reference to any metallic scary looking freaky metal demon." He said exasperated, "Can you work that damned contraption see if you can find anything."

Willow suddenly perked up with an idea.

"Giles that's brilliant! I can cross reference unusual occurrences in the area with mythical lore and other oggly boggly things from all over the world. Why didn't we do this earlier?"

Willow quickly sat down at the computer and started typing franticly. After twenty minutes she gave a start of excitement which rapidly faded to a look of confusion and disbelief.

"What is it?" Giles asked.

"Well I had a hit that matched everything. Mythical plus recent supernatural type stuff in this area. And what I'm getting makes no sense. I found a ritual, rather newerish to. But it's impossible."

"How so?"

"It basically calls a demon drone thing from outer space to do a cleansing. Get rid of…" Willow trailed off as she looked at the computer once again, "the un whole beings of humanity. But that's not possible, is it? It says here that its summoned in a meteor."

"I hate to ask but has there been anything like that recently in Sunnydale?"

Willow turned back to the computer and typed in a few more things.

"A single meteor fell last night in the woods." Willow said, "Do you think this could be it?"

"I honestly don't have the foggiest. We should look into it however."

"I'll call Buffy."

"No, don't she has enough to worry about right now. It's light out now. I'll call Xander and Anya and we can look in the woods. See what we find." Giles went over to the phone.

"Xander? Yes I do realize what time it is. Yes I do have a good reason for calling. A demon attacked at the hospital last night….. yes Xander I know demons don't often go into places that public…. We believe it might be a strange demon from outer space that has metal bone structure…. Yes you are to forget I said that but that is what we're looking for… Yes meet at my apartment for breakfast. Wait a moment why my house for breakfast. Oh never mind just hurry here. "

Giles set the phone, a bit more forcefully than nessacary, back into the cradle and went to the kitchen to make breakfast for five. Willow gently picked up the phone to call her girlfriend and ask her to come until her test later that afternoon.

After a large breakfast the group went out to the woods. They spread out to cover as much ground as possible. An hour of searching later Xander called out to the group.

They found the meteor. It cracked open to reavele a glassy inside. Much like the agates the sold in suviouner stores.

"There's only one set of tracks leading away from the big sparkly rock." Xander observed. The rock was only big enough to hold one demon of the size they found.

"So what do we do watcher man?"

"Well it seems to be over for now. I guess we make sure no more demonic meteors bring alien demons again."

**a/n so I decided to wait until the end for this... I feel as if this chapter kinda just flops. but I didnt know how else to write it so we're gonna just go with it. I dont remember what the demon looked like in the show so I went with what was in my head. let me know how I did. we're getting closer and closer to the baby coming!**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/n here is chpt 24 and guess what chapter 25 brings... the arivle of the baby! that one might take awhile to come because i want it perfect. so enjoy this one! read and review!**

Chapter 24

"_**Willow." A voice called to her in her dream.**_

_**She sat up and looked around. She was in a green forest. Tall anchient tree's grew around her. Their strong thick trunks and wide spread branches spoke of power and wisdom that could only be gathered from years of pacient watching. She felt safe lying where she was, under the green tinted shade of a oak. She looked around for the origin of the voice but she couldn't find anything.**_

"_**Willow, listen." It said again, this time she felt as if it came on the wind. **_

"_**I am." She replied.**_

"_**You must find the truth. Unclean cannot create pure. But can carry pure. Find the truth and save them. The three who are joined by blood and spirit. For it is always the blood. Blood calls to blood. And theirs calls loudly, for she hears it. The evil one. You must protect them, ward them and she will not find them so quickly. One key, many protectors. It is up to you. Find the truth." The voice left on the tail end of the wind.**_

_**Willow stayed where she was thinking and waiting for what happened next. Even with the urgent message given to her she felt nothing but the calm safety of the forest. She wished she could stay there but there was something she had to do. What was it?**_

"_**Blood calls to blood. Protect them."**_

Willow woke slowly, coming out of her dream haze. She remembered every detail with perfect clarity. Silently sliding out of bed she slipped on comfortable pants and a blouse, careful not to wake her girlfriend. She crept down to the lab to see if the blood of the demon she had tested gave her any answers.

"Giles I don't get it." Willow told the watcher a few hours later as she sat in his kitchen, "I tested the blood against every sample I have- human, various demons and vampires and nothing. It's kaput."

"Maybe the monk meant a different kind of blood and nothing to do with the demon. What exactly did he say again?" Giles said. The pair had been discussing the possibilities of what the monk- or at least what Willow assumed was the monk- meant in his cryptic message.

"Well he could've vauged it up a bit. You know what supernatural spirit thingy doesn't want to make our lives harder." Willow said, using the sarcasm she rarely showed.

She thought carefully of what her dream told her. Unclean can't carry pure… the truth... three persons tied together, one key… protectors…

Willow sat straight up in the chair she had slumped down in.

"Giles I have to go. I got a theory. I'll be back later for the Scooby meeting. Call Tara please, tell her to start gathering our strongest protection herbs and ward spells. I think I know what we gotta do for now."

Giles watched as the red head ran out of his house and down the street- leaving him more confused and befuddled than he had been earlier.

Fifteen minutes later Willow was knocking on the door of the Summers home. After a minute a frazzled looking Spike came to answer it.

"What do you need Red? Buffy aint here, she's still at the hospital with her mum. Helping her get ready to get out and all."

"I know Spike, I'm here to see you, well you and Drusilla. It's important." Willow answered. Spike moved away from the door to let her pass.

"What do you need?"

"I had a dream about the monk. He was all vauge and stuff but he said a lot about blood and protection," Willow started, leaving out the second half of her theory- that'd she save for if she was proven right- "I think we can protect the baby from Glory if I take some of your blood, Drusilla's blood and Buffy's blood to mix in a warding spell. I think having the blood of the people most connected to the baby will make any spell we use stronger. I need to fill these viles with blood from you and Drusilla." She held up two of the three viles in her bag.

"Why Buffy?" Spike asked.

"Huh?" Willow said,

"You said me, Dru and the slayer. The people you need are the ones closest to the baby. Why the slayer?"

"Umm," Willow thought fast, "Because she's the slayer. Her blood is stronger than regular human blood and has some darker root we don't know much about. I think we can use that to strengthen any spell we use." Willow remained reluctant to share her second theory and hoped Spike bought her reason.

The vampire nodded.

"Ok" he said rolling up his sleeve, "how do you want to do this?"

Willow reached again into her bag, this time pulling out a hollow needle and some clear tubing.

"With this, I went to the hospital first and borrowed these."

"You mean you stole them," Spike said with a sly smirk.

"Borrowed with good intentions." Willow insisted.

Spike sat down in one of the kitchen chairs and propped his arm up on the breakfast island. Willow made quick work of swabbing his arm with an alcohol wipe and tying an elastic band around his upper arm to raise a vein.

"How do you know how to do this?" Spike asked as he watched her confident motions.

"I paid attention in health class." She replied as she stuck the needle into his vein.

She than opened the capsule on the small collecting chamber attached to the needle and let the blood flow from his vein, threw the tube and into the glass vile.

"Ok we're good here." Willow said, closing the collecting chamber and easing the needle out of Spike's skin. She used a second alcohol wipe to clean the last bit of blood off his arm.

"Question," The vampire stated, "how do you plan on doing this to Dru?"

Willow reached once more into her bag and pulled out a packet of herbs.

"I'm going to make her sleep first. She won't wake up until I end the spell, or remove the herbs from the room. I'm kinda thinking the second option involves less –let's eat Willow- chances." She replied.

They went upstairs and Willow preformed the quick spell and repeated the same procedure she had done with Spike down stairs. Slipping the vial's back into her bag she went to find Buffy.

Buffy was still in the hospital when Willow found her talking with Joyce.

"Drusilla seems to be constantly demanding blood we're not sure if its an evil prego vamp thing or what," The slayer told her mother.

Joyce laughed at her daughter, "No, it's a hormonal pregnant woman thing. All women get very hungry all the time at the end of pregnancy, I know I did with you. Now the doctor said I can leave tomorrow correct?"

"Yep, he did." Buffy said.

"Good, a week in the hospital is more than a woman needs. Oh hello Willow." Joyce said as she saw the witch come into the room.

"Hi Joyce, can I borrow Buffy?"

"Go right a head."

Willow dragged Buffy out of the hospital and into the bathroom across the street.

"I didn't want to do this in the hospital. It would have been much harder to not be noticed surrounded by nurses and stuff." Willow explained to her best friend.

"I still don't like this. I hate needles." Buffy said, "It's one thing to get all hurt and stuff in a fight, it's another to say to someone here you go poke me with that sharp thing."

Willow laughed at her friend as she quickly finished up. Once Buffy was on her way back to the hospital Willow used the pay phone to call her girlfriend and the Magic Shop.

"Do you have the stuff ready?... Good I think we should do the spell around the house tonight…. Yeah I do… I know it seems not likely but it makes sense too…. Yeah I'm on my way. See you soon."

The witch hung up and hurried down the street toward the magic store.


	25. Chapter 25

**a/n so i know i had a plan for my updating. do one story than the next and the next and repeat. well that went to hell in a hand basket. I had to stop everything on all others and write this. and that it took me a bit because I wanted it to be perfect. this is one of three to four (possibly more depending on how you measure it) major scenes and plot developmental areas in this story, and let me just say I almost cried writing it. I toyed with how I wanted to write this for several days and kept having ideas that I felt were good but not IT. today as I fed horses it hit me like a ton of bricks. Thats how i want this worded- my brain said to me. so I ran up my stairs like a crazy woman to my brothers room where he was using my lap top. I burst into his room like the gates of hell opened behind me and said "I need my lap top now! hurry hurry hurry!" he looked at me like i lost the last of my marbles. so i grabbed my lap top, trashed everything i had started writing on this and wrote this. so i really really really want your opinions more on this chapter than any other chapter in this story so far. so please please review!**

Chapter 25

"_**Spike, it is nearly time." **_

_**Spike looked around wondering where the monk brought him this time. He stood in his old house in Victorian England. Everything was the same as it had been when he turned his back on this place and left only looking back once as he followed the brown eyed beauty who seduced him into his new world.**_

"_**The time has come. I have held off the Beast as best I can. Giving you what time I was able. Time to grow together, to trust, to bond, to prepare. But nature cannot be stalled, not by me. You must go forward now."**_

_**Spike watched as a young child ran across the sitting room. He recognized himself as a young boy of about five years old. A man with a pipe stood from his chair and swooped the young William into his arms and swung him in a circle. His father, nothing to him but a collage of broken memories. His mother sat in a matching chair beside his fathers, scolding the boys gently with a small smile on her face. Spike watched the silent reply for a moment before turning to the monk.**_

"_**I'm not ready. There must be more time."**_

_**The monk smiled at him in a fatherly sort of way.**_

"_**No one is ever ready to become a parent. More so for you than most. Your child shall be in great danger. For once the key comes into this world whole and apart from any other being she shall be drawn to it. Yours is not an enviable cross to bear but it is yours. You have everything you need to protect your child."**_

"_**You can see us winning?" Spike asked, hoping for reassurance.**_

"_**I cannot see the future no more than I can hold back nature. I came only to offer a second chance, mend a rip in time and pray for a better ending. I do not know if I shall succeed in the end. I have faith I shall though. Faith and hope. Such small things, often forgotten in the hustle and bustle of this world but no thing exists which is stronger. Faith, hope and love- a three corded rope. After all one alone may fall quickly while two may defend themselves, but a rope of three cords is not easily broken. You have faith for all you are a vampire- faith in the slayer and in the possibility of a higher God. After all you have seen so much darkness what can you help but think that it's possible for light to exist also. You also have hope- hope that you are more than what your past is, both human and vampire. I have seen your heart William, I know these things. You love the fight but you know what your fight is. But William look for love. If you find all three I truly believe the Beast, the unholy one who calls herself Glory, will fall. For a rope of three cords can bind her where a rope of two shall fray." **_

_**Spike watched his old life continue to play before him as he thought of what the monk said. Only distracted when the monk spoke again.**_

"_**But now William is not the day nor the hour to prove this. You are needed now for something else, something even more wonderful."**_

As the monks final words faded from his mind he woke quickly to a high careening wale. Sitting straight up he ran to Drusilla's room to find Buffy also in the hall.

"Is it…" she trailed off not finishing her sentence.

"I think so," Spike replied. He quickly disabled the alarm system to Drusilla's room and looked in.

The pregnant vampire held her large stomach between both hands, her face in obvious pain.

"Spike!" She cried, "The star it hurts!"

Spike turned back to Buffy standing in the hall with a look of fear on her face that mirrored his own.

"It's time, call the watcher, your mum the witches and the rest." He said and he went in the room to hold Drusilla's hand.

Buffy ran down the stairs and to the phone. Dialing Giles' number faster than she ever had before she impaciently hopped from one foot to another while listening to the loud rings. Another desperate cry came from upstairs. Glancing at the clock with out paying much attention Buffy saw the numbers 12:04 flash across her mind.

"Hello?" came the sleepy voice over the line.

"Giles, it's me, the baby, it's coming. We need you and Mom here as soon as possible." She said.

"We're coming. How far apart are her contractions?" he asked, all hints of sleep banished from his voice leaving only business like tones.

"I don't know," Buffy answered, "She's had one so far that I know of."

"Ok, start timing them. You mother and I shall call Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya. We'll arrive as quickly as possible. Now remember we don't know how this labor will go so please pay attention to detail until we arrive."

"Ok, I will. See you guys soon." Buffy hung up the phone and rushed back upstairs. The group had decided weeks ago with Spike that taking Drusilla to a hospital was too risky. Any injury she received would heal quickly and they would take the baby in after the birth. Coming to the door way Buffy paused unsure what to do. Drusilla was lying on the bed in a dream like state, Spike kneeling beside her. Finally she entered the room to kneel by Spike.

"She ok?" Buffy asked unsure of what to say.

"Yeah, no more contractions but her water broke. Are they on their way?"

"Yeah they're coming."

They sat in silence until everyone else arrived. Joyce and Giles came straight to the bedroom while Willow and Tara started warding the property. Adding power to the wards they already set a week ago with the combined blood of Buffy, Spike and Drusilla and putting on more wards to hopefully help ease the birth. Xander and Anya went to the kitchen to boil water in a large pot so they'd have sterile water to clean Mom and Baby until they reached the hospital.

Buffy started to leave the bedroom, feeling like and interloper, unwelcome and unneeded. Spike turned to look at her. his eyes asking her to stay. Over the time they had known each other they demanded, forcefully taken what they wanted or needed from each other, never once had they asked for something. Seeing that look in his eyes Buffy could not refuse it. She lowered herself back down beside the blonde vampire as his free hand shook with nerves and a touch of fear.

Three hours later the contractions were coming every five to six minutes. Joyce had put on a pair of gloves while Spike and Buffy held Drusilla down so Joyce could try and check her cervix.

"She's not dilating." Joyce stated with such certainty that no one dared disagree. "The contractions are also starting to come closer together. She, as of now, is physically impossible to have this child vaginally."

The same five sat in the room. The witches and couple downstairs pouring over the books that had been poured over before looking for something they might have missed involving vampire labors.

"What about a c-section?" Buffy asked.

"We don't dare, not with the lack of training we have. It's too dangerous for the baby." Giles said.

Another sharp cry came from Drusilla's pain clouded eyes as another contraction hit her. Even Buffy, who had developed a through dislike, bordering on hate for the female vampire, wanted to do something, anything to help her. Spike still kneeling by the bed looked like he was starting to reach is breaking point.

"The star!" cried Drusilla, "It needs to come out."

"Maybe a hospital? We could still take her in." Joyce said not knowing what else to say.

Spike almost voiced his agreement, knowing if he said yes that they would take her. But even as he opened his mouth to say yes he heard the monks voice echo in his head crying no.

"No," Spike said out loud, "it has to be this way. We have to wait."

Buffy looked at him carefully, understanding as he did that there was no other way than to let things take their course as they were.

Three hours later again in the early hours of the morning, just as the sun began to crest the November morning sky, turning the black into dark shades of violate and blue things began to change.

"Spike?" Drusilla asked, her eyes clear of pain for the first time in hours even though the contractions were almost constant now.

"Yeah luv, I'm right here." He said.

"Oh God," She cried, "I thought it was a dream, that'd I wake up and get ready to go to town with Mummy and Daddy and I'd buy a new ribbon for my hair because Mr. Price was having a dance at his house and his son was sweet on me. But it wasn't."

Spike stared at her.

"This is her," He said to Buffy in an awestruck whisper, "before Angel drove her mad. This is the real Drusilla." His voice convayed his shock and awe.

"No luv," he said turning back to Dru, "It wasn't a dream."

The vampire began to cry as she spoke.

"I so wanted it to be a dream. All of the horrible things I did. And enjoyed them. Spike how could I?" she asked desperately.

"It wasn't you pet. It was a demon inside of you. But it's ok now pet. Nobody blames you." he assured her.

Drusilla reached up and laid her hand on his face.

"My poor Spike, what did I do to you? I made your heart all black. Black yet still warm. Like a coal that's cooled. But that's all right. Coal can burn again." She said. Some how the room had shrunk to the two of them. The others becoming just props in a sick play they were all forced to be a part of.

"It's ok pet. I'm ok." He said trying to ease the pain he saw in her.

"No Spike, you're not. But you will be. Soon." She cried out in pain again, "its almost time Spike. She's coming. I can feel her inside of me. Not a soul like you have. But love Spike. Pure love. Even though she's not mine."

"What are ya saying pet. Of course she's yours. We're having a baby, she ours." Tears now laced Spikes words.

"No Spike, she's yours but not mine." The vampire paused to draw in a deep breath she didn't need, "Spike, take me outside."

"What, no pet. The sun, it's almost up. You'll burn."

"Spike please. I want to see the dawn one last time." Drusilla pleaded. Even as Spike gave in and began to answer her, knowing deep inside that this was the only way, the clouds fell over her eyes again and Drusilla was gone and Dru, the insane, beautiful vampire was back.

"Spike?" She said, "The star, it wants to dance in the dawn."

Tears finally escaping his eyes and running down the sharp planes of his cheek bones he collected her in his arms moving out of the door way, into the hall, down the stairs and out to the lawn. He laid Dru on the ground in the early morning shade of a tree. The dew sparkled and seemed to jump from blade to blade in the grass while a robin sang her song happily, unaware of the tragedy forming under her tree.

Dru shook her head no.

"Spike, I want to feel the sun." She said.

"No, you'll burn luv, you cant."

"Spike, I wont burn, I want to dance in the rays, one last time. Trust me." Spike couldn't tell if it was the insane Drusilla or the beautiful English girl she used to be who spoke anymore. Moving jerkily like an old windup toy whose gears had long ago rusted away he picked her up again and laid her in the sun before retreating to the edge of the shade openly crying now..

Drusilla raised her hands above her head and smiled serenely.

"Spike, I can see them. Mummy and Daddy and Charlie Price, the boy who was sweet on me. They're waiting. Waiting for me."

With those words the sun slowly began to lick her skin. She didn't burst into flames as a vampire normally would but instead she glowed as the early morning dawn warmed her skin gently, caressing her as a long lost lover. For the beautiful English girl Drusilla belonged in the sun, while William the player of words, no matter how poorly, after everything belonged to the night and the moon. As Drusilla was called by Apollo to be his lover, Spike danced with Artemis- fierce protector and huntress. After the sun played with her for one final time in a flash of light Dru became dust. Lying where she had been was now a screaming baby girl. Spike looked toward the house. Buffy stood in the door way, the tears falling down in rivers on her cheeks matching his. She walked out into the yard with a soft pink baby blanket that Joyce had bought and picked up the baby girl. She wrapped her carefully making sure she could breath, wiping around her eyes, nose and mouth though this was unneeded. For anything that had been Drusilla was now gone, dust blown away by the morning breeze.

She carried the baby over to Spike and put his daughter in his arms. He held her close keeping her safe next to wear his heart used to beat. He cried as he looked at his new born daughter, silently promising to protect her anyway he could.

"Dawn." He said, his voice creaking as if he hadn't used it in centuries, "Her name is Dawn."

Buffy nodded silently before taking the second blanket she grabbed, a large woolen one, and covered the father and child, quickly leading him into the house.


	26. Chapter 26

**a/n so i'm hiding in hope that no one is going to kill me for my very very very long hiatus. there is a reason i didnt have internet acsess and just got it again. and my computer was being worked on. i beg forgiveness. here is a chapter and another should be coming soon. but i'm working four jobs right now so no promises.**

Chapter 26

Spike stared down at the tiny pink bundle sitting in the bassinet next to his bed in the master bedroom. She was so small, delicate. Her hands wrapped themselves into tight little fists that stubbornly refused to be confined by the blanket. He turned his head only at the slight knock on the door. Buffy walked in carrying a warm bottle she had just prepared in the kitchen. Spike, hesitating slightly as he did every time he went to hold his daughter- afraid that he would drop her, gathered his baby into his arms and silently took the bottle from the Slayer. He lifted it to her mouth still amazed even after a week at how quickly her fragile looking mouth latched on to the synthetic nipple. She sucked strongly as the pair watched.

"I keep looking for something of Dru in her. I keep trying to find something to prove that she was here," Spike confessed to Buffy still staring at Dawn. She knew he grieved the lost of the beautiful and tragic Drusilla but in the week that had passed they avoided the topic. Neither quite willing to talk about it. As if speaking of what happened out loud would show the finality of the situation, how a creature- evil by nature- could openly and lovingly sacrifice herself for the life of another. The grief wasn't something they could share. Spike had loved Drusilla for more than a century and Buffy often had contemplated on how best to kill her. Something that night had bound them together, slayer and vampire, drew them closer to each other as only a significant experience can but this was a bridge they hadn't tried to cross yet. But the lapse where they could pretend had passed and now it was time to build and cross this bridge.

"Do you see her?" Buffy asked also looking down at the infant, not confessing she too tried to find the vampire in her features but only was able to see hints of Spike, none of Drusilla.

"No," Spike replied, "At times I'm relieved, no reminder of her, but i's disappointing also. No matter I suppose, easier that way I guess. What with all that happened at the hospital."

They fell back into the silence thinking about the rest of the events that played out that day. They carefully cleaned the newborn and dressed her. Than shrouding Spike in the heavy wool blanket they all went into the cars. The drive to the hospital was silent. They planned this ahead of time. All the herbs that Willow and Tara needed had been mixed and gathered. Their stories all known. They each had a part to play. The parts hadn't changed, the story remained the same but with Drusilla gone the scene had changed. The setting moved and none of them were exactly sure how to move with it. It was too new; the reality had yet to sink in. During the ride Buffy recalled Willow's words that had been spoken weeks earlier. Before things became even more complicated.

"This is black magic." She explained to Buffy, "Normally Tara and I wouldn't touch this. It's dark stuff taking over a person and takes a lot of power. A lot a lot not a little a lot. But we looked at everything else this is the safest way. And we aren't hurting anyone, right?" The witch looked to both the slayer and her lover for assurance that they weren't crossing a line here.

Their plan was simple in its complexity. They would take the newborn into the hospital right after the birth. The witches would combine their powers to take over the mind of one of the obtritions. They would have him perform all of the usual tests on the baby making sure she was healthy. When it was finished they would release the doctor. She wouldn't be able to remember a thing. It wasn't much but it was the most they dared do. When it came time to do the birth certificate the job became much harder. They decided that the baby needed to have one of the mortal members of the group put down as the mother. Just in case they said to themselves. Not quite understanding the ominous feeling that clouded them but not questioning it either. Buffy had been the most logical choice, the strongest one in the group to protect Dawn, the slayer. After all it was nothing more than a sheet of paper. Something that they could alter easily with magic once this ordeal was done and Glory was defeated. In the kitchen amongst the planning and plotting it seemed like such a simple idea. Now in the cool hospital room with the magically controlled doctor, the mornings events still fresh in their minds it seemed much bigger. Symbolic even, as if they were quickly wiping Drusilla from their memories. But they did it.

"I didn't love her anymore." Spike said pulling them both back to the present.

Buffy didn't know how to respond so instead she stood silently waiting for him to continue.

"Hardest part was when she came back." He continued pain lacing his words in each syllable, "When she came out of her fog and was Drusilla again. The Drusilla before Angel. I always loved her most then. She would be Dru, babbling at her dolls or in one of her fits but then she'd come back for a bit. So sweet and innocent even as a vampire. I loved all of her, the insane bits and the other bits, but it was a real treat to see Drusilla come through." A tear rolled down his face.

He thought of the moment that he realized he was no longer in love with Drusilla anymore. It was after he found her with the Chaos demon.

"I look at you and all I see is her." Drusilla had said, "Your head is full of the slayer."

All he could do was stare at her. She stood in front of him as beautiful as ever, pale with large halzel eyes framed by her brown curls, and he waited. Waited to feel something for her. A longing, a deep instinctual pull to her. He felt nothing. He didn't know if he loved the slayer than, all he knew was that he no longer loved the woman in front of him.

This time it was Buffy's voice that dragged them back to the master bedroom of the Summers home.

"What was she like?" she asked, "the Drusilla before Angel?"

"Innocent. Even with all the bloodshed she couldn't feel because the demon was still inside her she was still innocent. She would croon over a baby birds nest, and then she'd leave, the Drusilla Angel made would come back and she'd snap their necks. But still I loved her. Because of and in spite of what she had been made."

The pair continued to stand side by side as they watched the baby drink from the bottle. Both once again lost in their own worlds. Spike wondering how he could become a father when he was still figuring out how to be a man. Before the soul he had very little thoughts of choices and consequences. Now he was aware of nothing else. How was he to raise a child? Looking down at the miracle in his arms he didn't have the answers but he knew he would do anything to protect her. Buffy looked down at the same baby wondering how they could keep her safe. Her and Spike were now friends and well there were other emotions that neither felt the need to explore. The time wasn't right for that conversation. Not a week after the birth of the baby girl that by laws of nature shouldn't have been able to happen and the mother- former lover of the father- killed herself so the baby could survive. Maybe it would never be time for them. But that didn't matter. Buffy knew what Spike was thinking it was something he had expressed in their late night talks around a cup of tea after slaying for the night. Looking down at the daughter of her friend and possibly something more Buffy knew she would do anything to protect the baby also. Not only because it was her duty as a slayer but also because she felt a pull to the child. An instinct demanding she protect the baby Dawn. She didn't understand it and she didn't explore it. It was how it was and that was all she needed to know now.

From deep inside them they both heard the monks voice rise in them.

"Blood will call to blood. You most protect her. She is the only hope."

Neither commented on this, they knew the other felt it though. It was an old warning.

After Dawn finished her bottle the pair left the room and went down stairs. The kitchen counter was strewn with text books, magic books and a mix of cooking supplies. Buffy took Dawn from Spike as careful gentle as he had been. She settled down in a chair and began to study again. She threw a cloth over her shoulder and gently burped Dawn as she read. Spike began to cook. It only took one supper to figure out who the better cook was and Spike had insisted in taking over several of the house chores. He also insisted on paying some of the bills. Buffy wasn't sure how he got the money but decided it wasn't important and didn't ask. After all medical bills were expensive and with Joyce's surgery and hospital visits they had a plethora of them.

"Mom still wants to throw you a baby shower," Buffy said not looking up from her text book. Spike looked up from the stove where he had a child raising book propped up against the cold tea kettle.

"Why?" He asked.

"She thinks you need more baby stuff. She's planning it for a week from tomorrow. Everyone is going to be coming here. So just warning you. Be prepared."

"Thanks pet." He turned back to his book and she turned back to hers. For the moment everything was quiet in the Summers home.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/n I'm alive, I swear! First reality decided that it had been to nice to me and had to kick my ass a bit. trust me not fun. than a complication of the male form came into my life in fact you can read a bit about that in my glee fan fic just friend (its a collection of one shots mostly taking experiences i've had and making them fit glee characters feel free to read and tell me what you think) and than my muse abandoned me and my yard got struck by lightning and i had no internet. no lie true story all of it. now this chapter is going to be very important later on which is another reason it took so long. it probly doesnt sound important now but it is. so read and enjoy! oh and if your still with me review!**

It unnerved Spike at how easily he fell into living at the Summers home. To be more specific it unnerved him at how easily he fell into living with just Buffy and Dawn at the Summers home. Joyce continued to live with Mr. Giles. The whole group decided it was the safest thing for all parties concerned if she lived anywhere but the house. Joyce still stopped by during the day and helped out with the baby but she spent most of her time at the studio or at Giles.

Spike took the master bedroom again and they were in the process of turning the guest bedroom into a baby room. Spike insisted on paying for everything for Dawn plus taking over the shopping bills and in general just helping out. They took care of Dawn, tag teaming off each other like it was the most natural thing for a slayer and a vampire to do. It was easy. Or as easy as it could be for two people who knew nothing about babies or children in general to raise a baby with the threat of a monster trying to kill her.

But the thing that bothered Spike was that it shouldn't be easy. He was a vampire. He had lived with no one but an insane vampire for years. Shouldn't it be a bit harder to adjust? Take a bit to become one big happy family? Hell he wasn't sure what he exactly felt for the slayer but it should be weird to be all Suzy Homemaker together. And a baby. He still couldn't get over his daughter. He thought he knew what selfless love was with Dru but holding his daughter he knew the truth. What he had felt for Dru didn't come even close to the small amazing bundle he held in his arms. She was so perfect it scared him. The slightest noise at night had him up and running to his daughter's bassinet by the side of his bed. It amazed him to no end that this beautiful baby girl was his, to protect.

After settling his daughter down once again Spike moved to the kitchen to heat up some blood. It was only a minor surprise to see the soft glow of the light streaming through the door. Buffy sat in the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream.

"How was patrol?" Spike asked.

"Eh, nothing to interesting thankfully." The slayer paused thinking, "Or at least I should be thankful. Nothing strange or interesting means safer town. But it's making me nervous." She glanced to the stairs her mind wandering to the sleeping baby.

Spike understood her unspoken words. The multiple warnings each received almost nightly. Warning them about Glory. The thought of having to involve the council before more people got hurt, but at the same time not wanting to tip their hand and tell them about Dawn. A quiet patrol in normal times would be a thing of relief, something to celebrate. Now in these times it was a cause of worry because if evil wasn't showing itself it was preparing for something bigger.

"Your mother seems excited about the baby shower tomorrow." Spike commented, wanting to change the subject, take his mind as far away from the constant worry as he could. There was another thing that unnerved the souled vampire. Joyce had always accepted him more or less. The pair had even shared a cup of Joe every now and then while Buffy patrolled. Spike knew better than anyone the trouble Joyce still had accepting the fact that her daughter was the Slayer. Now that Spike had a daughter of his own he understood better than ever. But even the Witches thought of him as a Scooby now. Anya also generally always accepted him but the broad was an ex demon to begin with so that was more understandable. Giles, Xander and Spike would never be seen out on a golf field- bursting into flames aside- but even those two were at ease around the vampire who tried to kill them multiple times. They were all one big happy family now. In fact Joyce already had Thanksgiving planned. Spike was making the cheesy potato hot dish.

Buffy smiled at the mention of the shower. She went shopping just that day for several baby gifts. Before she could answer she heard a slight fussing from upstairs.

"I got her." She said as Spike started to move, "You can finish your blood and head to bed. Long day tomorrow. Don't forget she has a doctor's appointment next week for her three week check up."

"The doctor in San Diago again?" Spike asked. They had decided that the fewer people who had a chance to think too much about the circumstances of Dawns birth in Sunnydale the better. Willow and Tara set a glamour over the town. Not a specific one, those would be to easy to detect. This glamour only affected those close to the Summer family. It vagued their memories, making them remember Buffy being pregnant.

"Yes. We'll have to leave the night before to get there. Its an early morning appointment. Might as well get a hotel to crash in for the day." Buffy said as she began to mount the stairs.

Spike nodded absently as he watched her go. He drained the last of his blood before following the slayer up the stairs. He peaked in at his daughter being rocked in the Slayers arms. Satisfied that both were alright he made his way to his bedroom and collapsed on the bed, falling asleep instantly.

In Dawns room Buffy rocked the small infant back to sleep, singing a lullaby off key. After a few minutes the baby settled down and Buffy laid her back down in her bassinet. Walking to her room she suddenly found herself exhausted. Not bothering to take the cloths she wore patrolling off she fell on to her bed, asleep before she hit the pillow.

_**Buffy stood in her room in front of her vanity mirror naked. For a moment she studied herself. Curious as to why she was there. Her arms were bronzed from days of being out in the California sun. Her small breasts were as white and pink as a newborn child's her stomach flat and muscled. A small triangle of blonde curls spread over the apex of her thighs. Her legs were tanned like her arms and stomach, lean strong and smooth. She flexed her different muscles, enjoying the strength she could feel in them. She didn't lie the one night she told Spike she would give up being the slayer in a moment if it meant her family and friends were safe but she also enjoyed being the slayer. Maybe it was a power trip, like some cops got from wearing the badge, maybe it was a hero-complex her psyc profe said some firefighters and soldiers got from being out in the field. What ever it was it made her feel good. She liked protecting people, she liked that she was no longer a shallow cheerleader like Cordilia had been.**_

_**She continued to study herself. A woman, yet still holding a bit of the innocence of a girl. Despite all of the things she'd seen in her tenure as the slayer she still believed in happy endings. Forced herself to if she was being honest. Because if happy endings didn't exist, what hope was there for any of them?**_

_**As she thought about that a wave of sadness washed over her. None of her endings came close to happy. Angel tried to destroy her, loved her and then left her. Last time she visited LA she noticed how close he and Cordilia seemed to be. She hoped it worked for him. He deserved to be happy and Cordilia was becoming a whole new person. The vapid cheerleader in her also was quickly disappearing. **_

_**After Angel in Buffy's romantic timeline came Parker. She knew ever girl had a Parker in her past but it didn't make her feel better about it. He came along and used her. Didn't give one thought about her just used her. The sex hadn't even been that great when she looked back on it. At least she got to wack him when the beer turned her into a cavewoman. **_

_**Riley. The last link in her very short chain. Even though it had been over five months sense he left she still didn't exactly know what she thought. If she loved him she would have stopped his leaving… wouldn't she? But he wanted to protect her. Wanted her to step aside while he fought the Big Bad. **_

_**A subtle cough brought her out of her thoughts. She turned, now finding herself clothed in a thick warm robe. The monk sat serenely on her bed. She wasn't surprised to see him.**_

"_**You're forgetting someone." He said kindly.**_

_**Buffy shook her head. Even in her dream world she didn't want to go there now. To complicated.**_

"_**You have to trust him." The monks face changed, a look of tired and disgruntlement took over his featuers, "Trust him completely. Not something that's easy for you. For any woman. But you above most. You not only have to trust him as a partner, someone to help the fight but also as a man. Where so many before him betrayed you. Do not let the past hold you down child. It will defeat you if you let it and you are our only hope."**_

_**The pair sat in silence for awhile both contemplating the past, present and future. The monk than rose from the bed and walked over to Buffy. He took her left hand in his holding it palm up. The scar seemed to glow a golden color for a moment. **_

"_**Blood will call to blood. You must listen to it. This is our last chance. I have faith in you." **_

In the master bedroom down the hall the monk made a second visit.

_**Spike stood in a cemetery. Looking at the grave in front of him.**_

_**William Pratt  
A good man, A good son  
Eternally at rest with our Lord**_

_**His grave. He'd visited it once before. When he still lived in England. Just once. After roaming with Angel, Darla and Dru for about fifty years he came back here. Trying to remember what it had meant to be human. He laughed at the irony of returning here in his dreams. Trying to be human again.**_

"_**You'll never be human again." A voice behind him sounded. **_

_**He turned to see the monk standing off to the side.**_

"_**No but my daughter might be. I want her to be a good one." He paused than figured the monk may be the only person who could give him an answer, "Is she human? Dawn, is she?"**_

_**He held his breath as he waited for an answer. **_

"_**She is as human as the Slayer or the Witch. For the slayer's power is drawn from something more than human herself and the Witch constantly connects with forces that is no such way human, yet they still hold on tightly to humanity. As do you. You are a vampire, once human and now? You hold on to your humanity. Doesn't that make you human in someway? But for all intents and pourposes of your question yes, your daughter is human."**_

_**Spike breathed a sight of relief before the monk spoke again.**_

"_**If things shall work out she has quite the destiny to meet."**_

_**Spike's head snapped up at the monks words, "If, what do you mean?"**_

"_**I mean the future is not set. I see many possibilities, many outcomes. It is not up to me to create the future but rather up to you. You have been given the opportunity to mend a rip in time, right a wrong that you don't even know was commited. A great task with grave consequences if failed but I have faith in you. Do you have faith in yourself? In the slayer? In her allies? For all of you must work together."**_

_**Spike looked down at the ground thinking about what the monk said. A small glow came from his left hand. Turning his palm up he stared at his scar.**_

"_**Blood calls to blood. You'll understand in time. Now is not quite the time yet." The monk said before disappearing. **_


	28. Chapter 28

**a/n ok so this is a lot longer than the 2 weeks i thought it was going to be. Sorry. A lot of things happened at once. the quick version of this being new university, ROTC responsibilities, joining the mock trial team, getting a new job, getting into a car accident, breaking old computer in said accident, getting a concussionin said accident, having some mild speech and memory issues, getting a new computer, trying to catch up in school, plus more work. and family stuff. and that my friends is the short version. But i promise I am working on this story. I have a lot of ideas of where I want it to go and some on how I"m going to get it there so please read and review!**

The baby shower passed peacefully with out one single major crisis, not even a minor one. The vampires were out and running again, something that Buffy could honestly say reassured her as having them around at least gave the illusion that things might be getting close to normal. Dawn continued to grow bigger and bigger and by the time January rolled around she was a healthy one month plus change old baby.

"Spike!" Buffy called to the general upstairs of the house. She knew he was in Dawns room giving her a bottle but she was in a hurry and didn't want to run up the stairs.

"What?" The souled vampire called.

"I'm heading out for patrol! I should be back sometime around one or two, I have a test at ten tomorrow so I'll make it a short one." She yelled, sadly she had one last final before winter break.

An affirmative sort of grunt came from up stairs. Buffy took this as her cue to head out. She had a lot of pent up energy and needed a good slay tonight. She decided to swing by the cemetery before heading to Willy's to see if anything new came up. After all just because things seemed normal didn't mean they were. Maybe Glory was up to something. Maybe they wouldn't have to call the council.

The Scoobies plus Spike decided to give it until Buffy, Willow and Tara finished their term at University. If they didn't have any new information they would call the council. Give them bits of information, just enough to get answers but try their best to keep the truth about Dawn hidden. Slowly it looked more and more like it would be their last hope. They needed to find something. Anything really by this point.

Buffy only half paid attention as she patrolled. Maybe that's why what happened, happened. Maybe she just had an off night. Maybe this vamp was just a bit quicker but the next thing Buffy knew she was fighting.

The vampire jumped out from behind a near by mausoleum. With out thinking she went into attack mode. Duck, skip to the side, aim strike. At least that's what should have happened.

The vampire dropped into a fighters crouch identical to Buffy's own. For a few moments they circled each other, taking the time to size each other up. Buffy darted in with a lunge feinting to the right before stabbing to the left. The vampire dodged easily before returning with an attack of his own. Buffy dodged with equal quickness. The vampire was not the most skilled she fought, not by a long shot. Spike and Angle out pared him by far. She as a fighter held the upper hand. She could feel herself grin. Not the happy grin she generally wore on her face but a slow, sly predatory grin that came when she knew she was the better fighter. When she knew that she was going in for the kill. For that is what she is, a predator. A lioness who turned other predators into her prey.

She lunged a second time this time kicking his legs out from under him. In the same swift moment she pinned him down with hips much like she did to Spike several months earlier. As she raised her stake to deliver the final blow she felt a searing pain across her stomach. She clutched the area only to feel a hot sticky mass spread across her shirt. She quickly rolled off and away from the vamp trying to access the damage.

A red stain quickly had spread to cover the entire stomac of her shirt. She had no choice left but to get the hell out of there. Clutching her stomach tightly she did the only thing she could. She ran.

She managed to make it to the Magic Shop. Giles was still there to work on some inventory. Buffy stumbled into the store. The red stain grown to cover not just her stomach but also to cover her breasts and large portions of her back.

"Giles!" She cried out to the silent shop, "Help!"

The elderly man hurried into the main room.

"Buffy!" he cried. "Hurry to the back. On the table. Quickly."

He hooked his arm under her shoulder supporting half her weight on his. He helped her up on to the small black medical table in the corner.

"Can you get your shirt off?" He asked as he got the medical kit ready. Long ago when Buffy returned from her summer in LA the pair struck a deal. He would care for as many of her various battle wounds without telling her mother. Her mother worried enough about her daughter as a slayer, she didn't need to know when Buffy was injured.

"No" Buffy gasped in pain. This was by far one of the worst wounds she had ever received. Well aside from dying.

"OK, I'll grab the scissors. It'll probably need stitches." The watcher quickly cut away the fabric of the blood soaked shirt.

"Buffy, I know how you feel about this but maybe we should go to the hospital for this." Giles said as he started to clean the wound already anticipating the answer.

"No. Real hospitals mean real bills which means a real worried mom. She has enough on her plate. Just sew me up." She replied.

Giles sighed and finished cleaning the wound. He carefully threaded the medical needle and put in the minimal amount of stitches needed. He than put a several large butterfly bandages over the wound before wrapping Buffy's entire torso in a white bandage.

After they both cleaned up, Buffy changing into a pair of cloths she kept at the Magic Shop the pair sat around the table, each with a cup of tea.

"So what was it?" Giles asked.

"A vampire." Admitted Buffy.

"You mean a gang of vampires?" Giles clarified.

"Nope, one measly on your own run of the mill vampire. He must have had a knife I didn't see or something. Because one minute I'm making with the stakey and the next he almost shishkabobed me."

"I don't understand." Giles said.

Buffy looked up at him. Speaking slowly she said, "Vampire plus knife equal hurt Buffy."

"No, no, no I understood what you said but was it a super strong vampire?"

"Nope. A normal vampire." Buffy paused, "Giles I don't understand. One vampire, a kinda wimpy one at that, almost killed me tonight how?"

"Well how did the fight go?" Giles inquired.

"He tried to jump me. We fought. I pinned him. Raised my hand to stake and he slashed me. It was all text booky, well minus the stabby part. That not so much." Buffy replied.

Giles thought for several moments before he could speak again Buffy spoke back up.

"Giles, how did… how did the other girls die? What got them in the end? I need to know Giles. A regular vamp almost took me out tonight. I need to be ready. Just in case. I need to know how they died so I don't die that way. Know what mistakes they made. Giles I need help. Now more than ever I cant die. They need me."

She didn't elaborate on who they were nor did Giles ask.

"There might be something in the watchers diaries. We can start to look at least."

Several hours later when the dawn began to crest the horizon Buffy slammed the final journal shut.

"Not one of them!" She exclaimed. "Not one of them tells what happened in the end. Its all fight fight fight and than she's dead. No detailed explanation. Why!" At the end of her mini rant she gave a great huff of frustration.

"Well if those watchers are anything like me," Giles started, "I expect they find it to…"

"Gory?" Buffy cut across, "Death to icky for the British to write about?"

"Well I was going to say painful." Giles responded.

"If only I could talk to someone who was there. Who knew what happened exactly." After she finished her sentence what she said dawned on Buffy.

"Giles! That's it." She exclaimed, "I need you and mom to watch Dawn tonight. Come over to the house." She glanced at the clock, "Crap. I got that test in a few hours. I'm going to grab a nap in back. Come over at about 6-7 that's just after sunset. I need to talk to Spike."

She hurried off to the back leaving Giles with a bemused look on his face. After a moment he realized what the slayer had meant. He smiled to himself. That idea, well it might just work.


	29. Chapter 29

***a/n. Hello again! I am back! this is part one of two for this section of the story. A lot of the lines are taken directly from the episode, Fools for Love because I didn't think I could say it better. The dialog that is. I adjusted it to fit the story line. I also did it for this section because its the first ep I took directly from the show. Let me know how you think. I also had Spike revert a bit back to his big bad self because I thought it fit his character. again Please Please Please review. reviews are love after all.* **

"Hey guys, thanks for coming." Buffy said as she opened the door. She didn't bother to think about the fact that her mother was being invited into her own home. It made her head all achey. She stepped back from the door so the pair could walk it.

"Ok," She said, "Dawn's been fed and burped and changed and all that stuff. Spike is just putting her down now to bed. She should sleep for a couple of hours for sure. Lately she's been making it till midnight before waking up all crying and stuff. We should be back by than. I can't patrol yet." Buffy made a gesture to her abdomen. Her pale blue tee shirt covered the white bandages twining around her stomach. She still hadn't told Spike about what happened. She didn't have to after all. They just lived together, and fought demons together, and were raising a baby together. Yeah, the voice in the back of her head was making her feel pretty damn guilty about not telling him.

One hour later Buffy and Spike sat at a corner table at the Bronze.

"You're awfully quiet pet," Spike said, "what's buggin ya."

"I need information." Buffy said, with out realizing it she retreated into how Spike and her used to interact. Before he got a soul. The person who needed information and the informee.

"On what?" Spike asked slipping into his former big bad stance as easily as he slid into his duster.

"Slayers, You killed two of them."

"That I did." Spike said warily, unsure as to where this was going.

"You're going to tell me how." Buffy said.

Spike sensed a change in the slayer; he could feel her fear roll off of her in subtle waves. He knew something had happened. She'd acted funny all day. He planned on finding out what.

"Fine, but we do this my way. Order up some wings I'm feelin' peckish."

Buffy stared at him confused for a moment before turning in her seat to flag down the waitress. The combination of raising her hand and turning her torso pulled at her abdomen, causing her to wince in pain.

"Thought so." Grinned Spike, "Something nasty got a bite out of you."

"I'm fine." She snapped back. The pain of her wound killing what was left of her fired nerves.

"Of course that's why you're here in a second rate club in a dark corner with you're once enemy turned roommate draggin' up past uglies, cause you're fine." Spike replied voice tinged with bitterness.

"Were you born a pain in the ass or did that happen after you became a vampire?" Buffy asked with false sweetness.

"What can I say pet, I've always been bad." Spike responded.

_London 1880_

_Spike saw himself as William, sitting alone in the corner of a dinner party. He was bent over a scrap of paper furiously scribbling away at it while muttering to himself. In his mind he watched himself get cornered by two other gentlemen. He remembered the humiliation of that night._

"…_They call him William the bloody for his bloody awful poetry…"_

"…_Rather have rail road spikes in my head than listen to that stuff…"_

_Even over one hundred years later the cruel words of his peers echoed back to him. None crueler however than what Cecily had said to him that evening._

"…_I love you, Cecily… I'm a good man… please try and see…"_

_He could still hear his pathetic begging that she listen, understand. And her response, those words that would forever be burned in his mind._

"_I do see you. That's the problem. You're nothing to me. You're beneath me."_

"So you were rejected." Buffy said, her face flat.

"Yep. Best thing that ever happened to me. If Cecily hadn't rejected me I wouldn't have been in that ally. Dru wouldn't have found me. And I wouldn't be a vampire, just another forgotten name on a gravestone dying from consumption or typhoid."

"So you traded up on the food chain. Then what?" Buffy asked.

"Hey now pet, not so quick there. It's not something you flip past on the Discovery Channel. Getting killed made me feel alive for the first time. I could feel the power coursing through my veins, the pure strength was like a high I never even dreamed existed."

_London, 1880_

_William left the party, red faced with humiliation while shredding his poetry. He finally stopped in an alleyway, collapsing on a hay bale. Spike remembers sitting dejected and broken for what seemed like hours when he heard a female voice. Dru's voice. How she peered into his soul that night, offering him what he couldn't hope to refuse. Offering what he didn't want to refuse. He could still remember the feel of the prick of pain as her fangs slid into his neck. How he knew he should be afraid but wasn't._

The pair wandered over to the pool table. Each picking up a billiards cue and began to play a game while Spike continued his story.

"Dru gave me a chance like I never had before and I took it with both hands." Spike said as he positioned his lean body to effortlessly preform the break.

"The slayers Spike. What about the two slayers, one during the boxer rebellion, one during the 70's what happened to them." Buffy said as she took her turn with much more care to avoid straining her wound.

"I'm getting there pet. You wanted to drag up the uglies now you gotta listen to them my way." Spike replied.

Buffy waved her hand in a way for him to continue.

"I hadn't been a vampire long before I heard of the slayer. Less than a year really. I became obsessed. Most vampires avoided the slayer, the subject itself brought a cold sweat and frightened whispers. I was tired of hiding. I sought her out. Seemed like the perfect bit of fun. Hell there was death, there was glory and sod all else." Spike paused, recollecting his former self from a century before. He shrugged, "I was young."

He took his shoot, sinking a solid colored ball with ease.

"How'd you kill her? The first slayer, during the boxer revolution." Buffy asked again as she lined up her shot.

"Funny you should ask pet." Spike said as he slid behind her. He whipped his hand forward and grabbed her by the neck as if he was to attack. Reacting on instinct Buffy pivoted, bringing up her own pool cue ready to use it as a weapon. But Spike quickly knocks it away. His face shifts as the demon in him comes forward.

"Lesson of the first," He snarls, his breath hot on her neck where his fangs are pointed to, "you always have to reach for your weapon, I already got mine."

He stepped back shaking his face as he shifted back to normal.

"And that's good." He continued, "See when you're a vampire you've got nothing to fear. All the humans, even those that tormented you while you were alive, are nothing anymore. They can't kill you or hurt you. They become your prey. You hunt them, torment them, kill them now. When you're a vampire you only have one thing to fear. One girl, just one puny chit. And pet, that chit is you. Back then it, though, it was her."

_The Boxer Rebellion, China, 1900_

_He could smell the pungent odor of scorched wood and burning flesh of those trapped in the riot. He could hear the screams of the panicked villagers as they tried to flee the chaos and destruction. But he pushed all of that to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand. Fighting the slayer. The girl was tiny, diminutive even. Skilled no doubt but didn't look like the girl that stuck fear into every big bad that went bump in the night. _

"See rebellions are perfect for vampires. All that chaos, we can't help it. We go to it. It calls to us. The destruction, the pain, the blood. Nobody notices one more dead among a million. So we went. Finding her was just a bonus."

_The slayer and Spike continued to trade blows but Spike gained the upper hand._

"_This good for you to?" He asked laughing with pure joy at the fight._

_A few more minutes of fighting and he was sinking his teeth into the slayers neck, sucking her blood. He remembered the rest of the night. Finding Dru again, the intoxicating effect of the slayer blood, bragging to Angel and Darla about what he, Spike, did._

"Had to be one of the best nights of my life. Until Dawn came along that is." He said.

Buffy looked at him fascinated, "You got off on it!" She said not sure if she was accusing him or understanding the feeling.

"I suppose you're telling me you don't?" Spike laughed, the same bitter note in his voice.

Buffy remained silent and shifted her weight from foot to foot. She couldn't deny that sometimes (all the time) after a really good fight she got a little horny. Hey Faith said it first, she just had to agree.

"Besides how many of my kind have you done, before I got all souled up that is?" Spike asked.

"Not enough." Buffy replied.

"And it never is. We keep coming don't we. You can kill a hundred, a thousand, and all the enemies in Hell besides and its never enough is it? But us? All we need is just one of us to have what we've all been waiting for, what we all want."

"And what's that?" Buffy asked staring Spike in the eye.

He closed the space in between them with one long smooth stride. For the second time that night he got right up next to her and leaned his had down to her ear, letting his warm breath tickle her ear and neck.

"Simple pet, all we need is one… good… day."


	30. Chapter 30

**a/n here it is! for anyone reading my other stories please be on the look out for a *gasp* update. I'm feeling a bit inspired today so I'm going to see where that takes me. Hope you like this chptr, I had fun finishing this mini sub plot off. for those wondering where the schoobies are or where glory is don't worry their coming! :) Please read and review. after all reviews make me happy and happy authors write faster. (Plus it was just my birthday and that would be an awesome present!)**

Chapter 30

"That's all we need pet." Spike said still far to close to her, "One good day. And we win. For a bit that is. Another slayer is called and the cycle starts again. But for that one good day we're on top of the world."

Buffy pushed him away, disturbed by the truth of his words.

"You're the one who asked luv." Spike said laughing cynically. "See you've gotten so good pet you think you're immortal now."

"No Spike, I just can handle myself." Buffy snapped.

"Oh really pet? How'd this happen than?" Spike's fist snaked out to punch her in her wound. Both double over, Buffy from the pain of the wound, Spike from the pain in his head.

"That it?" Buffy gasped, "Lesson over?"

"Nope, we still got a lot to cover pet."

He grabbed a pool cue and motioned for her to follow him outside.

In the ally they square off and start to spar. They didn't have to think of each others movements anymore as they were evenly matched.

Buffy gets her hand around Spikes throat and pushes him against a fence.

"Lesson of the second: ask the right questions." Spike says as he pushes her off, "Question isn't how'd I win? The question is how'd they lose?"

"There's a difference?" Buffy asks.

"There's a big difference luv."

"Spike, how'd you kill them?" She demanded.

"Bit like this in fact." Spike said as he swung at her. She dodged quickly. They continued to dance in the ally. Their twisted form of a dance. Trading punches and kicks, flirting in closer to each other before spinning away again, just out of reach.

"Tell me Spike. The second slayer how'd you kill her?" Buffy demanded.

Spike lunged in close pinning her against the brick wall.

"You're not ready." He said.

"I'm ready." She said as she threw him off of her.

"Well then, went like this."

_New York 1977_

_The young black woman faced him confidently. She was something all right. All dark leather and fire. The train car they were in was empty and rocked back and forth in a deceptively peaceful sway. Spike throws back his head laughing in a demented pleasure. They fight hard and rough, an echo of how he now fights with Buffy some twenty odd years later. Finally he tires of this particular dance and snaps the black slayers neck. He reached down to the corpse to strip her of her black duster. He shrugs it on before disappearing into the night at the next stop._

"See these girls, both were different. The first was all business but the second. She had a touch of your style all fire and ice. Fierce to. Oh yeah she was fierce."

Buffy and Spike continue to trade blows while he talks.

"Lot like you like I said. Cunning, resourceful and hot. Did I mention hot." He smirked, "I could have danced with her all night that one."

"Is that what we're doing now?" Buffy asked with a small smile recognizing the joke that had developed from many midnight sparing sessions in the back yard. She drops down and swipes his feet out from under him. As he falls she pins him to the ground with her pool cue over his heart.

"That's all we've ever done pet." Spike said the bitterness back in his voice as he grasped her wrist, twisting it behind her back and rolling out from underneath her. Buffy winced as the stitches in her wound pulled painfully.

"And here's the thing about this dance. You can never stop. Every single day you wake up and it's the same bloody question. And it haunts you: is this the day I die."

His words bring Buffy up short. Not because of what he said, but because of the truth in the words. The tiny thought that tickled the back of her brain every time she set out to patrol or face an apocolaspyse.

"Death is constantly at your heels pet. Sooner or later it's going to catch you." He advances toward her slowly as she stands frozen in the ally. Its like a car accident for her. She doesn't want to hear it. Doesn't want to know the truth but at the same time she cant back off, she cant runaway.

"See, death is your art. You make it every night with your hands, its your gift. And what's more, part of you wants it, not only to stop the unknown and the fear but also because you're just a little bit in love with it."

Buffy brings her hand up to slap him, anything to make him stop. She doesn't like how it feels, like he can see right into her soul. He catches her hand and continues to advance forward. Her wrist still in his hand they walk toward the ally wall. Him forward her backward, a demented and twisted waltz.

"You crave it. That final gasp, that look of peace. Part of you is desperate for it. You want to know: What's it like? Where does it lead you? And that's the secret. Not what punch you didn't throw, not what kicks you didn't land. No the secret is simple. Every Slayer has a death wish."

He keeps talking as Buffy's back bumps the cold brick wall behind her.

"Even you pet, even you. See you've lasted this long because you're different. You have ties to this world. Your mum, the watcher… the Scoobies." For the first time he breaks eye contact with her, glancing down, "Sometimes I like to count Dawn and myself on that list. But the point is these all tie you here but sooner or later you're going to get tired and crave that peace death offers." He looks her in the eye again, "and the minute that happens one of us is going to be there to have ourselves one…. Really….. good day."

For a moment they stay like that. Her pressed against the wall, his hand still curved around her wrist, his second hand braced above her head, his body close to hers. Than he brings his head down to crush his lips to hers. Her body reacts instantly. Her free hand grasps a belt loop of his jeans pulling him closer to press against her. After a few minutes they pull away both breathing heavily

Spike looks down at her, wide eyed with her lips full from their kiss.

"Here endth the lesson." He says softly. They stare at each other for another moment, then at the same time they turn, walk out of the ally and back toward Rodello Drive, hands still clasped together.

Once they got to the front door Spike stopped.

"Go on in pet." He said unclasping their hands for the time sense they left the Bronze.

Buffy turned to look at him confused before glancing down and their now unconnected hands. The peaceful bubble they had managed to keep themselves in burst.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Got something I need to do quick. I'll be back in a bit." He shot her a quick smirk before turning down the walk and taking a left. Once he was well out of sight of the house his easy relaxed pace became shorter and quicker. He rolled his shoulders like a boxer tensing up for a fight.

He stalked into the Sunnydale cemetery moving silently along the shadowed graves. Finally he found the crypt he was looking for.

"Stabbed her. With her own stake. I reckon the should put this in a museum." A decently built vampire said to his eager audience. He held the stake in question high in his hand. Before he could say more Spike kicked in the door, game face on.

"Well I reckon that your particular idea will never happen." Spike growled. He quickly staked three of the four vampires leaving one still alive.

"Now here's the deal. I'm going to let you live… for tonight. You're going to repay my favor by telling me what every single demon in town is doing whenever I come and ask. Pretty good deal huh?" Spike said as the vamp sniveled in the cornor.

The vamp nodded as quickly as he could.

"Good. Now don't think and try to skip town. You wont make it very far." Spike gave him one last good punch to the face before turning and stalking out of the crypt. He brushed himself off. He smiled satisfied. He still had time for a night cap before the time Dawn usually woke up for her 2am feeding.


	31. Chapter 31

**a/n here is the next installment. :) any lines you recognize I most likely used from the actual episode. I may have changed who said what or the exact wording though. Please review on your way out!**

"Buffy we can't but it off, not any longer." Giles said.

"I know Giles I just don't trust the council. I don't want them here in Sunnydale." Buffy shot back. The rest of the Scoobies plus Dawn, Spike and Joyce sat around the table in the Magic Shop.

"We don't have a choice any more. We haven't found a single thing. Glory is getting stronger; she attacked you twice in as many weeks a few months ago. The council has access to more information than we could ever hope to gather. I don't like this any more than you do but its time." Giles argued.

"I know, I know. Fine we'll do it. We'll call the Watchers Council here. But they can't know about Dawn, not the truth. As far as they're concerned Dawn in my daughter from a thoughtless one nightstand. They get the same story everyone else got. Willow, Tara can you check the glamour thing you did again? I don't want to give them any reason to look closer at Dawn." Buffy turned to the two witches.

"That shouldn't be a problem at all." Willow said, "We can make sure the glamour is all glammy."

"We can even strengthen it a bit." Tara spoke up, "Now that the original glamour is older and so is Dawn we can use the details people naturally forget to fill in any blanks they might have."

"That's great." Anya said, "But what if check for new spells. Demons will also notice if we do anything to big to soon. Witches magic smells funny. They'll know it was these two." She pointed at the witches.

"Can we mask that?" Buffy asked, desperate to keep anyone finding out about Dawn. She couldn't explain the maternal pull she felt for the infant but it went unsaid between Spike and herself that the slayer was as much of a parent to the baby as the vampire was.

"Yes we can." Willow shot Anya a glare, "We'll do it the same way we did the first glamour. Build it slowly. Give us two weeks. One to build it and one for it to settle. We'll weave the second glamour into the first. By the time the council comes they won't be able to feel any new magic. Just old magic which in a town like Sunnydale they'd expect. What with the hell mouth and all this place is drenched in magic. That's why the glamour held, it clung to the magic already here." Willow explained.

Satisfied Buffy nodded. "Three weeks." She decided to be on the safe side. We'll call them in three weeks."

"We need a gavel." Xander said. The group all turned to look at him.

"What? I think a gavel would be perfect. When Buffy makes important decions she can bang the gavel." He said smiling. The group quickly caught on to what he meant and all began to laugh.

Once the chuckles died down Giles cleared his throat. Everyone turned to look at him.

"So that's the plan," he said, "Buffy, Spike keep patrolling. Everyone else, research. Maybe we'll get lucky and find something before the three weeks are up and we wont have to call the council."

"Speaking of phones and calling," Xander spoke up, "couldn't the council give us information over the phone, not come here at all? You know be all 'Allo Buffy, here's stuff we know, pip pip and stuffiness?"

"Yes," Buffy said clapping her hands, "I like that. Council on phones, we can do that right?"

Giles smiled happy to see some of the tension lifted, "No I'm afraid I don't think they'd bother to be that cooperative."

"Giles I have say it again. I don't trust them. They almost killed me with that test and than again when I was Faith. I really can't deal with almost being killed right now. Not with trying to take care of Dawn."

"Look on the bright side," Willow said, "they did think you were Faith last time. Maybe now they wont care enough to try and kill you."

Buffy smiled at Willow, "Its more than that. I don't want them looking over my shoulder when I don't even know what we're dealing with."

"I know Buffy," Giles said, "But that's why we need them. Because we don't know anything. I'll try to keep them from coming here but in the end it might not our choice."

"Well we haven't seen Glory in a while, maybe she got bored and left." Buffy said with false hope.

* * *

Glory lay on the floor of her apartment. No longer looking beautiful her face was shallow and pale. A layer of sweat covered her panting body. Every now and than she would start to shiver, a look of pain contorting her features.

The door burst open and two of her minions dragged in a mailman.

"Wonderful Glory, we found one." The minion on the right said.

"Who are you?" the mailman asked frantically, "Please don't hurt me. Just let me go."

"Hold him!" Said the right minion. The left minion grabbed the mailman holding him tight. The right minion rushed over to Glory grabbing her and pulling her to her knee's. He helped her over to the babbling mailman and lifted her hands to each side of his head.

"Drink." He encourages her.

Glory in a burst of strength plunges her hands into either side of his head. White light leaves his head and begins to fill her. After a moment she pulls her hands out and begins to laugh.

"I know your watching me. All the time. I need my hat. Where's my hat?" the mailman babbled before wandering off.

"Get him." Glory commanded no longer pale and sweating. One of her minions bowed and left to follow the deranged mailman.

"Next time don't cut it so close." She said turning to the remaining minion, "you have news?"

"The alingnment, the signs show it is happing faster than expected."

"Good. I've been here long enough. This town is starting to bore me, to many demons not enough retailers. All I need is my key, I bet Mousey the Vampire Slayer knows where it is." Glory picked herself up and flopped down on the bed.

"Glorificus, might I remind you that you don't have much time." Her minion said.

"Baby if she's all that's standing between me and my key I don't need much time at all."

"But your eminence, you don't even know where to find her."

"No but I bet little Benjy knows. Find him and get him to tell me."

The minion bowed and left quickly.

* * *

Xander unlocked the door of the apartment after the meeting.

"What's so bad about the Council coming?" Anya asked as she walked in, "Aren't they just like more Giles?"

"Not exactly," Xander answered, trying to explain, "they're all hard nosey and not hip with the Buffy. They're the same as us, they want to kill demons and the other bad things."

"Current demons right? Not ex-demons? Ex-demons are safe right?" Anya asked slightly panicked.

"I'm sure, they wouldn't kill Buffy's friends." Xander replied, hugging his girlfriend.

"But they tried to kill Buffy, twice, and she's the slayer! They don't sound ex-demon friendly. They don't sound friendly at all!"

"It'll be ok. I promise." Xander said leading her in to the bedroom. Anya still looked worried as they began to get ready for bed. When they crawled into the queen size bed she pulled him closer than normal. She didn't know what was going on and sometimes humans still confused her but she knew that something was about to happen. Something not good.

The three weeks passed quicker than any of them would have liked. Glory still hadn't shown her face but none of the scoobies could shake the growing feeling of unease.

"I have to call them today." Giles said as they gathered once again at the Magic Shop, this time in the morning instead of evening. He looked around at the solemn faces, Tara and Willow held hands, same with Anya and Xander. Spike sat stoically on the stairs staring at his clasped hands while Buffy paced. Joyce held Dawn feeding the infant a bottle while looking at her daughter. Joyce was still new with slaying, relatively compared to everyone else in the room. She didn't know who this council was, only what her daughter and Giles had told her. Either way she didn't want them anywhere near her daughter. This was just one more way she couldn't protect Buffy.

"Maybe it wont be so bad. Maybe they'll just give us the information and be done with it. Leave us alone." Buffy said hopefully.

Giles smiled at his slayer, "Maybe. I'll go make the call. We'll know soon enough."

Giles went to his back office and sat down at his desk. He stared at the phone in front of him wanting nothing more than to not pick it up. Like Joyce he didn't want the council near Buffy again. Not after the last times they'd been involved. He saw Buffy as a daughter; he knew that as a slayer danger was a part of her life. It pained him that he might have to add to that danger. Stealing himself he picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello," A voice answered on the other line.

"Hello Quinton. How are you?" Giles asked.

"Ah Rupert. We've been expecting you to call." Quinton Travers answered.

"Oh, have you now? Well that should expidite this. You know what we're facing?" Giles asked, more than a bit annoyed with his former collegue.

"Yes, Glory. We've been made aware of the situation."

"Well do you have any information?" Giles demanded.

"We do." Quinton replied.

"Well what is it?"

"We cannot divulge that information over the phone. We'll be coming to Sunnydale presently. See you soon old friend." Quinton said before hanging up the phone.

"Yes of course you will you bloody fool." Giles mumbled to himself before standing to return to the waiting group.

"They're coming." He said, "They have information."

At his words Buffy stopped pacing and shot a fearful glance to Spike. Anya gave a squeak of fear while Xander squeezed her hand reassuringly. Willow scooted closer to Tara and Joyce hugged Dawn tighter.

"They cant know anything. Not about Dawn, not about Spike having his soul. I want them as much in the dark as possible. They come, they tell us what they know, they leave. Nothing more than that." Buffy said, "Spike you'll have to move back to your cript, Mom you back to the house. As far as they know Spike has nothing more than his chip and sometimes helps for cash."

Spike nodded his agreement with Joyce. The group sat for a bit longer before breaking up to go their separate ways and prepare.

* * *

Ben washed his hands after his shift at the hospital. He pulled his jacket out of his locker and began to leave the hospital, wanting to get home after his shift and make dinner. Just as he was leaving a hand snaked out of the supply room door and pulled him in.

"Begging permission to speak to you sir," Glory's minion said.

"Jinx! What do you want? Don't touch me." Ben cried.

"Not me sir, Glory. She wants information on the slayer." Jinx answered.

"I don't know any slayer." Ben said confused.

"Oh I believe you do sir," Jinx replied, "Short, symmetrical, blonde hair on top. Named Buffy something."

"Buffy Summers is the slayer?" Ben asked.

"Yes, that's the one sir!" Jinx said.

"How does Glory know this?"

"I do not know sir, her message was just to ask you where her dwelling was, who her friends are."

"Why would I tell her anything about Buffy? Just so she can hurt Buffy?"

"I do not know sir, that was just the message." Jinx responded.

"Yeah, well I have a message of my own for Glory." Ben said.


	32. Chapter 32

**a/n this chapter is shorter than I planned but no matter what I did with it this just seemed like the place to cut it off. So I did. Not sure when the next chapter will be up... yeah I know I suck at the up dating thing... Sorry bout that...**

Chapter 32

"Spike, hurry. We have no idea when they're coming." Buffy snapped as the vampire slowly and methodically packed his things. Now that they knew the watchers were on their way all the plans the Scoobies laid suddenly felt ill conceived and rushed. They would fail, the watchers would see right though the gang and do something. Buffy honestly wasn't sure what they could do but they already tried to kill her twice so she didn't put much past them at all.

"Calm down slayer. We have time, we have a plan." Spike said as he continued to place things in his duffles'. He had a surprisingly large amount of things at the Summers' home.

"I just don't know how good of a plan it is." Buffy confessed, "What if they see through the glamour, what if they find out about Dawn."

"Well we could just kill them." Spike flippantly offered.

Buffy could think of no response other than to glare at the souled vampire. As appealing as the idea sounded it probably wouldn't go well to kill a large group of old British men. That sort of thing is hard to cover up.

"I'm just joking love." Spike chuckled as he emptied another drawer.

"I know, I'm just a bit stressed right now."

"I might have noticed that." Came the sarcastic reply.

"Ugh. I just want this to be over. I keep thinking as soon as this is over I can get everything back on track. I can meet someone nice, unconnected to all of this. Maybe try things with Ben again. Find something a tiny bit normal." Buffy wasn't sure where that particular confession came from but it was true. She kept thinking that maybe this time, maybe after this big bad she could find a bit of normalcy in her life.

"You don't want that. Like I said you need a little bad in your man, in your life. It balances you out." Spike said calmly not even bothering to pause in his packing.

"No I don't. How do you know what I need." Buffy demanded.

"Because slayer I know you. How many times has it been now?" Spike asked finally pausing to look at her.

"I don't know what you mean." Buffy said although she thought she had an idea.

"How many times slayer? How many times have you woken me up when the dreams get a bit too nasty, when you need a fight, need to feel the blood lust to cope with it? Hmm how many times now? See we've been dancing too long slayer. We're in each other's blood now. And for things like us, creatures like us, it's all about the blood. So we'll play nice with the council for Dawn's sake, for humanities sake, not that I quite give a flying flip about the general humanity. But once they leave, once they take their pompous arse's back across the Atlantic you and me, we're finishing this dance. I've played to nice for too long. We're finishing this." With each word Spike stepped a bit closer to her. With each advance she countered with a step back until her back bumped against the dresser.

_Blood calls to blood._

"We can't. It's playing with fire." Buffy said. Only to herself would she admit to the thrill his words sent down her spine. Oh hell that thrill happened rather frequently but she didn't need to admit that yet. Or at all. Ever. So what if things had become a bit more heated between the pair since he kissed her that one night. That didn't mean she was all ready to jump into the sack with him, or talk about it even.

"Everything burns in the end love we play with fire everyday. Might as well enjoy the heat." Spike said leaning in close until his face was an inch from hers. This position wasn't new to them. Half of their midnight "dances" ended this way. Other moments to, relaxing in the living room with Dawn or in the kitchen or passing in the hall during the morning things would be normal when suddenly they'd be too close, inches away from each other. One would always break the contact, move away or suddenly remember some small task that just couldn't wait any longer.

Reaching behind her Spike grabbed the bags he'd packed in one hand, hefting them over his shoulder. Together they walked into the baby room where Dawn had begun to fuss. The moment between them was over. It's how they worked, brief moments of intense honesty only to be covered once again when it came to close to breaking through to the rest of their lives. They couldn't put it off much longer though.

Buffy quickly scooped the baby into her arms cradling Dawn close. With out speaking the pair walked to the front door.

"It'll only a be a few days." Buffy said. Both knew how difficult it was for Spike to leave Dawn. It didn't matter he trusted Buffy to watch him better than anyone else- himself possibly included- nothing made leaving his daughter easier.

"I'll patrol by here tonight." Spike said.

"I'm not going out tonight. I'm not leaving Mom and Dawn unprotected like that. Not until we know what the council knows." Buffy replied almost insulted he thought she would.

"I know pet. I'm not either. I'll patrol the area tonight." He dropped his duffel's with a resounding thud. He turned to reach for Dawn. Holding her close he quickly planted a kiss on her forehead.

"You'll do fine. You'll figure out the council. Like you said it's only for a few days." He told Buffy as he handed Dawn back. Buffy nodded again without saying anything, a worried expression still playing on her face. Spike pulled her into a hug, the two didn't often share tender moments. They were more of a fight, insult and goad each other senseless kind of team but sometimes you really do just need a hug.

"Well I'm off to redecorate my crypt. Kinda miss the place in fact. Very comfortable as far as crypts go." Spike said putting on his best big bad face, minus the fangs.

"You have enough blood?" Buffy asked.

"Yep, good to go. Even got the mini fridge running last night after I did my patrol." The pair started splitting patrols after Dawn was born. Mostly to give each other a break and the stress relief killing some bad demons and vampires brought. That said something about the stress of parenting when finding and killing monsters was stress relief.

"Ok. Mom's coming tomorrow morning, I didn't want her moving at night you know. Not now." Buffy started to babble, not sure why she seemed to be stalling the goodbye's.

"I know pet. I was there, remember." Spike said.

"Well… yes. Well in that case. I'll see you soon. Tomorrow that is, at the Magic Box. Before they come. "

"I'll be there luv."

Neither quite knew what to do at this point. Neither of them were exceptionally comfortable with goodbyes, temporary or otherwise. They shared an awkward one-armed hug and Spike kissed Buffy and Dawn's foreheads. The two girls stood on the porch as Spike walked down the walkway, his bags slung over his shoulder.


End file.
